SAKETH MYNENI IN ROBUST FORM IN LEXINGTON CHALLENGER
Saketh Myneni had a memorable day as he beat the third seed in singles and the top seeds in doubles in partnership with compatriot Vijay Sundar Prashanth in the $75,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Lexington, US.
Saketh pipped third seed Norbert Gombos of Slovakia 7-5, 7-6(5) to set up a second round against lucky-loser Ronnie Schneider of the US, who ousted Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands in straight sets.
In doubles, Saketh and Vijay beat top seeds Ruan Roelofse of South Africa and Luke Saville of Australia 10-6 in the super tie-break.
In the $2,146,815 ATP 500 event in Washington, qualifier Divij Sharan in partnership with Artem Sitak of New Zealand pipped wild card entrants, Leander Paes and Jamie Cerretani 7-6(2), 3-6, 10-7 in the doubles first round.
In the quarterfinals, the Indo-Kiwi pair will challenge fourth seeds Jamie Murray of Britain and Bruno Soares of Brazil.
In the concurrently held, $250,000 WTA event in Washington, Prarthana Thombare in partnership with Harriet Dart of Britain lost a close match to the fourth seeds in the doubles pre-quarterfinals.
In the ATP event in Mexico, qualifier Prajnesh Gunneswaran was beaten 6-2, 6-2 by Cameron Norrie of Britain. Prajnesh collected 12 ATP points for qualification and $7,240.
In the doubles pre-quarterfinals, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan in partnership with Austin Krajicek of the US beat compatriot Purav Raja and Jacksown Withrow of the US 7-5, 6-3.
The results:
$2,146,815 ATP, Washington, US
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Artem Sitak (Nzl) & Divij Sharan bt Jamie Cerretani (US) & Leander Paes 7-6(2),3 -6, [10-7].
$808,770 ATP, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Singles (first round): Cameron Norrie (GBR) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-2, 6-2.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Austin Krajicek (US) & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Jackson Withrow (US) & Purav Raja 7-5, 6-3.
$250,000 WTA, Washington, US
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Alexa Guarachi (Chi) & Erin Routliffe (Nzl) bt Harriet Dart (GBR) & Prarthana Thombare 7-6(3), 7-5.
€ 85,000 Challenger men, Segovia, Spain
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sriram Balaji & Vishnu Vardhan bt Ivan Nedelko (Rus) & Aldin Setkic (BIH) 6-0, 6-3.
$75,000 Challenger men, Lexington, US
Singles (first round): Saketh Myneni bt Norbert Gombos (Svk) 7-5, 7-6(5).
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Saketh Myneni & Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Ruan Roelofse (RSA) & Luka Saville (Aus) 7-6(5), 2-6, [10-6].
$15,000 ITF men, Jakarta, Indonesia
Singles (first round): Hady Habib (Lbn) bt Kunal Anand 7-6(3), 7-6(2); Mohit Mayur bt Mustafa Ibraimi (Aus) 6-3, 6-1.
$15,000 ITF men, Essen, Germany
Singles (first round): Tejas Chaukulkar bt Marcello Zormann Da Silva (Bra) 6-1, 7-5.