Pune, November 14 :
Fourteenth Seeded Tim Van Rijthoven of Netherlands created the biggest upset as he defeated India No 1 Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND) in the singles pre-quarterfinals at the KPIT MSLTA Challenger. Sumit Nagal, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Mukund Sasikumar celebrated their selection to the Davis Cup team against Pakistan with wins to move into the quarterfinals.
In the Pre-quarterfinal played today, 324 ranked 22 year old resident of Roosendaal in Netherlands took 2 hours 10 minutes to create the biggest upset of the event ousting top seeded Prajnesh Gunneswaran 46, 75, 63 in a well contested match.
India No.2 and third seeded Sumit Nagal had an easy passage into the last eight as his opponent Ivan Nedelko of Russia retired from the match with Nagal leading 20 due to lower back pain . Nagal will meet 6th seeded Ramkumar Ramanathan who tamed 12th seeded Cem Ilkel of Turkey 63, 64 in 1 hour 11 minutes. Nagal and Ramkumar match, which will be eagerly watched, will also ensure that one Indian makes it to the semifinals.
8th seeded Mukund Sasikumar played flawless tennis to oust Turkish Ergi Kirkin 60 62 in 1 hour 5 minutes to make it to the last eight. Mukund will take on 2nd seeded James Duckworth who ended the fabulous run of India’s upcoming player Manish Sureshkumar winning 61, 62. 20 year old Sureshkumar will however be content with 7 ATP points which will ensure a good start in the beginning of next year.
4th seeded Steven Diez, 5th seeded Jay Clarke and 7th seeded Roberto Ortega-Olmedo of Spain were the other players to make it to the last eight.
The Indian flag in the doubles format continued to fly high with third seeds Arjun Kadhe and Saketh Myneni scraping past the Russian pair of Bogdan Bobrov and Ivan Nedelko 64, 46, 16-14 to move into the semifinals. They will take on second seeds Japanese Toshide Matsui and India’s Vishnu Vardhan who came back from loss of first set to win against Steven Diez of Canada and Roberto Ortega-Olmedo of Spain 36, 62, 10-4
Following are the Results (Pre Quarterfinals)
Tim. Van Rijthoven (NED) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND) 46 75 63
Roberto Ortega-Olmedo (ESP) bt Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN) 62 64
Steven Diez (CAN) bt Brydan Klein (GBR) 60 62
Jay Clarke (GBR) bt Duckhee Lee (KOR) 61 64
Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt Cem Ilkel (TUR) 63 64
Sumit Nagal (IND) bt Ivan Nedelko (RUS) 20 (Retd)
Sasikumar Mukund (IND) bt Ergi. Kirkin (TUR) 60 62
James Duckworth (AUS) bt Manish Sureshkumar 61 62
Doubles (Quarter Finals)
Arjun Kadhe/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bt Bogdan Bobrov/ Ivan Nedelko (RUS) 64 46 16-14
Toshide Matsui (JPN)/ Vishnu Vardhan(IND) bt Steven Diez(CAN) / Roberto Ortega -Olmedo (ESP) 36 62 10-4
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