SAKETH MYNENI SHOCKS TOP SEED MIKHAIL YOUZHNY IN KAZAKH CHALLENGER
Quallifier Saketh Myneni continued to assert his all-court game as he downed former World No.8 and top seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $125,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old Saketh had lost to Youzhny in their only previous meeting in the Chennai Open last year. It may be recalled that the 36-year-old Youzhny, ranked a modest 105 now, had beaten Rafael Nadal 6-0, 6-1 in the final of the Chennai Open in 2008. He had beaten Marin Cilic for the loss of five games in the semifinals, then.
In the quarterfinals, Saketh will play Daniel Brands of Germany.
In the ITF women’s tournament in Thailand, the champion last week, Ankita Raina got off to a tough start as she overcame a first set loss to beat wild card Chompoothip Jundakate of Thailand. Ankita will play compatriot and training partner Rutuja Bhosale in the pre-quarterfinals.
The results:
€561,345 ATP, Bastad, Sweden
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Jurgen Melzer (Aut) & Philipp Petzschner (Ger) bt Sriram Balaji & Vishnu Vardhan 5-7, 6-4, [10-8].
$ 623,710 ATP, Newport, US
Singles (first round): Victor Estrella Burgos (Dom) bt Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-1.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ken Skupski (GBR) & Purav Raja bt Ruben Bemelmans (Bel) & Denis Kudla (US) 7-5, 6-4.
$125,000 Challenger men, Astana, Kazakhstan
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Saketh Myneni bt Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ivan Gakhov & Romann Safiullin (Rus) bt Toshihide Matsui (Jpn) & Saketh Myneni 6-2, 6-2; Denis Yevseyev (Kaz) & Arjun Kadhe bt Cem Ilkel (Tur) & Roberto Ortega-Olmedo (Esp) 7-5, 2-6, [10-1].
$25,000 ITF men, Kunshan, China
Doubles (quarterfinals): Ajeet Rai (Nzl) & Aryan Goveas bt Liu Hanyi & Zhao Runyu (Chn) 6-2, 6-2.
$15,000 ITF men, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Isaac Stoute (GBR) bt Siddharth Vishwakarma 6-4, 6-2.
Doubles (pre-quarterfials): Sumit Sarkar (US) & Anurag Nenwani bt Shamirul Shahril Mohd. Adam Das (Mas) & Muzammil Murtaza (Pak) 6-2, 6-4.
$25,000 ITF women, Nonthaburi, Thailand
Singles (first round): Ankita Raina bt Chompoothip Jundakate (Tha) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rutuja Bhosale & Pranjala Yadlapalli bt Punnin Kovapitukted & Tamachan Momkoonthod (Tha) 6-2, 6-2.
$15,000 ITF women, Jakarta, Indonesia
Singles (first round): Ho ching Wu (Hkg) bt Rishika Sunkara 6-1, 6-3; Sai Samhitha bt Deria Nur Haliza (Ina) 6-0, 6-2; Kanika Vaidya bt Rifanty Kahfiani (Ina) 6-0, 4-6, 6-3.
