Pune (Maharashtra): Indian wildcard entry Sasikumar Mukund put on a brilliant display of tennis to trounce British qualifier Felix Gill in just 51 minutes and advance to the quarter-finals of the PMRDA MahaOpen ATP Challenger 100 Men’s International Tennis Championships at the Mhalunge Balewadi Tennis complex here on Wednesday.
The tournament has been organised by Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA). Mukund, ranked 457th in the world, defeated Gill, ranked more than 100 places above him at No 344, for the loss of just one game and advanced to the last eight with a 6-1, 6-0 win.
It is the second time in three events in India that Mukund has made the quarter finals and he will next meet third seed Adam Walton of Australia . The Australian Walton won an ATP Challenger title in Burnie earlier this month, overcame a tough challenge from Chinese Taipei’s Tung-Lin Wu 6-7, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4) in a 2 hour 40 minute match to move into the quarter-finals.
Fourth seed Valetin Vacherot and Frenchman Enzo Couacaudwill will clash in another quarter-final on Friday. Vacherot, who represents Monaco, scored a comfortable 6-1, 6-2 win over Australian Tristian Schoolkate while Couacaud advanced when fifth seed Dalibor Svrcina, of the Czech Republic, retired while trailing 6-4, 7-5, 1-4.
In the doubles draw, Indian pairs dominated the day. Top seeds Arjun Kadhe and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan scored a 6-3, 6-3 win over fellow Indians Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha and Rithvik Choudary.
Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan, who won back-to-back Challenger titles in Chennai and Bengaluru coming into this week, won their ninth match in a row upsetting second seeds Piotr Matuszewski and Matthew Romios 7-6 (5), 6-4 to enter the quarterfinals
Top seed Sumit Nagal, who cemented his place in the top 100 will take on countryman Niki Poonacha while Ramkumar Ramanathan will face qualifier Alexey Zakharov in the second round matches to be played on Thursday.
Read More
