Kim Jae Hwan of Korea fought his way past fifth seed Vijay Sundar Prashanth 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-6 (retd.) in the pre-quarterfinals of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament at the CLTA Complex here on Wednesday.
In a gripping contest, it was 5-5 in the third set tie-break, when a bout of cramps dashed the hopes of Vijay Sundar and forced him to retire.
Two rounds on the same day, after the schedule had been upset by rain, perhaps cost a quarterfinal berth for Vijay Sundar, as he had negotiated a tough outing against the former national champion Mohit Mayur earlier in the day.
Top seed Enrique Lopez-Perez of Spain managed to pull through in three sets against qualifier Jajbir Saran, and will challenge the Korean in the quarterfinals.
Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, Sasikumar Mukund, Karunuday Singh were the other Indians to make the quarterfinals.
Fourth seed Jeevan who had to fight his way past Basil Khuma in the morning, played sharp to beat Suraj Prabodh in the pre-quarterfinals.
He will play Sasikumar Mukund who was tested in a three-setter by Chandril Sood. Karunuday will attempt to stop the run of second seed Ti Chen of Chinese Taipei, after defeating Kaza Vinayak Sharma.
The results:
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Enrique Lopez-Perez (Esp) bt Jajbir Saran 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; Kim Jae Hwan (Kor) bt Vijay Sundar Prashanth 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-6 (retired); Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Suraj Prabodh 6-2, 6-3; Sasikumar Mukund bt Chandril Sood 2-6, 6-2, 6-1; Riccardo Ghedin (Ita) bt Kelsey Stevenson (Can) 7-6(4), 6-4; David Perez Sanz (Esp) bt Sarvar Ikramov (Uzb) retired; Karunuday Singh bt Kaza Vinayak Sharma 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3; Ti Chen (Tpe) bt Sidharth Rawat 6-1, 6-2.
First round: Enrique Lopez-Perez bt Ronit Singh Bisht 6-2, 7-6(1); Jajbir Saran bt Gurinder Singh 6-2, 6-3; ijay Sundar Prashanth bt Mohit Mayur 7-6(2), 6-1; Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Basil Khuma 3-6, 6-1, 6-2; Suraj Prabodh bt Ranjeet Singh 4-6, 6-2, 6-1; Chandril Sood bt Kunal Anand 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
Sasikumar Mukund bt Digvijay Pratap Singh 6-4, 6-1; Riccardo Ghedin bt Lakshit Sood 6-0, 6-2; Kelsey Stevenson (Can) bt Jayesh Pungliya 7-5, 6-2; David Perez Sanz bt Akash Wagh 7-5, 6-2; Karunuday Singh bt Siddharth Vishwakarma 6-4, 6-3; Kaza Vinayak Sharma bt PC Vignesh 6-1, 7-5; Sidharth Rawat bt Alex Solanki 6-3, 7-5; Ti Chen (Tpe) bt Aditya Deswal 6-1, 6-0.
