Prajnesh sets up quarterfinals against Fabbiano

Prajnesh Gunneswaran continued to assert his strong game and extended his run of wins over Mohamed Safwat of Egypt with a 6-4, 6-4 victory in the pre-quarterfinals of the $50,000 Challenger tennis tournament in China on Wednesday.

It was the fourth win for the 28-year-old Prajnesh in as many meetings over the 205th ranked Safwat. As luck would have it, in the quarterfinals, Prajnesh will face third seed Thomas Fabbiano of Italy who had won a close three-setter against him in the final last week in Ningbo.

Fourth seeds, Rohan Bopanna in partnrship with Marcello Granollers of Spain got beaten from the brink of victory, 2-6, 7-6(6), 10-3 by Dominic Inglot and Franko Skugor in the doubles quarterfinals of the ATP-500 event in Basel.

Divij Sharan in partnership with Artem Sitak of New Zealand won 10-7 in the super tie-break against Matthew Ebden and Daniil Medvedev in the pre-quarterfinals.

In the Challenger in France, second seeds, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan in partnership with Austin Krajicek of the US, cruised into the doubles quarterfinals.

In the ITF women’s event in Egypt, qualifier Vaidehi Chaudhari knocked out fifth seed Jelena Stojanovic of Australia 6-3, 2-6, 6-0 in the first round.

The results:

€ 2,442,740 ATP 500, Basel, Switzerland
Doubles (quarterfinals): Dominic Inglot (GBR) & Franko Skugor (Cro) bt Marcello Granollers (Esp) & Rohan Bopanna 2-6, 7-6(6), 10-3.

Pre-quarterfinals: Artem Sitak (Nzl) & Divij Sharan bt Matthew Ebden (Aus) & Daniil Medvedev (Rus)6-4, 6-7(3), 10-7.

€ 106,000 Challenger men, Brest, France
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Austin Krajicek (US) & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Stefano Travaglia & Luca Vanni (Ita) 6-3, 6-2.

$50,000 Challenger men, Liuzhou, China
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt Mohamed Safwat (Egy) 6-4, 6-4.

$25,000 ITF women, Nanning, China
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Katie Swan (GBR) & Karman Kaur Thandi bt Chen Jiahui & Sheng Yuqi (Chn) 4-6, 6-1, [10-5].

$15,000 ITF women, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
Singles (first round): Vaidehi Chaudhari bt Jelena Stojanovic (Aus) 6-3, 2-6, 6-0.

$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia
Singlles (first round): Coralie Garrigues (Fra) bt Sathwika Sama 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.