Qualifier Sasi Kumar Mukund sustained his good run and beat the Uzbek Davis Cupper Sanjar Fayziev 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4) in the first round of the $75,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Karshi, Uzbekistan, on Wednesday.
In the $60,000 ITF women’s event in China, Ankita Raina moved into the pre-quarterfinals. In the $25,000 women’s event in Spain, former Asian junior champion Y. Pranjala survived a matchpoint in the third set tie-break, after having squandered three matchpoints in the 10th game, to beat Yana Sizikova of Russia 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(6) in the first round.
The results: $75,000 Challenger men, Karshi, Uzbekistan: Singles (first round): Sasii Kumar Mukund bt Sanjar Fayziev (Uzb) 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4).
$15,000 ITF men, Kampala, Uganda: Singles (first round): VM Ranjeet bt Nicolas Uryson (Arg) 7-6(8), 6-2; Vasisht Cheruku bt Hugo Largo (Esp) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; Kaza Vinayak Sharma bt Dhruv Sunish 6-2, 6-3.
$15,000 ITF men, Thua Thien Hue, Vietnam: Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Kazuki NIshiwaki (Jpn) bt Nitin Kumar Sinha 6-4, 6-1. $60,000 ITF women, Luan, China: Singles (first round): Ankita Raina bt Ao Gai (Chn) 6-1, 7-6(6).
$25,000 ITF women, Monzon, Spain: Singles (first round): Y. Pranjala bt Yana Sizikova (Rus) 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(6). Doubles (quarterfinals): Catalina Pella (Arg) & Valeriya Strakhova (Ukr) bt Chiara Scholl (US) & Pranjala 6-4, 7-6(5).
$15,000 ITF women, Cairo, Egypt: Singles (first round): Riya Bhatia bt Annick Melgers (Ned) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; Snehal Mane bt Nadia Echeverria Alam (Ven) 2-6, 7-5, 6-4.
$15,000 ITF women, Hua Hin, Thailand: Doubles: (quarterfinals): Chommpoothip Jundakate & Tamachan Momkoonthod (Tha) bt Ho Ching Wu (Hkg) & Ramya Natarajan 4-6, 6-2, [10-7]; Sheng Yuqi (Chn) & Aldila Sutjiadi (Ina) bt Kwan Yau Ng (Hkg) & Natasha Palha 6-3, 6-1 .
