Saketh Myneni seized his opportunities against top seed Aleksandr Nedovyesov to book a semifinal berth at the KPIT-MSLTA ATP Challenger here on Thursday. He also reached the doubles final, partnering Sanam Singh, where they will face the formidable Thai pair of Sonchai & Sonchat Ratiwatana.
This was Myneni’s second victory over the top-seeded Kazakh in back-to-back Challengers, completing the 6-3, 6-4 effort in 64 minutes.
The Indian sent down six aces along with a first serve percentage of 77. Nedovyesov was broken in the fourth game of the first set and in the 10th game of the second. “I was aggressive and it worked. The plan was to move up and attack; I mixed my game well,” quipped Myneni, adding: “I was planning to end the year after the two Challengers, but now I find myself closer to the Australian Open qualifiers. I have to change my plans.”
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Meanwhile, Yuki Bhambri was up 4-1 in the second set of his quarterfinal match before losing 6-3, 6-4 against fourth seed Yuichi Sugita.
Earlier in the pre-quarterfinals on Tuesday, Somdev Devvarman went down to Adam Pavlasek in straight sets.
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The results (quarterfinals): Saketh Myneni (Ind) bt Aleksandr Nedovyesov (Kaz) 6-3, 6-4; Yuichi Sugita (Jpn) bt Yuki Bhambri (Ind) 6-3, 6-4; Kimmer Coppejans (Bel) bt Adam Pavlasek (Cze) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Adrian Menendez Macarias bt Alexander Kudryatsev (Rus) 6-4, 6-1. Doubles (semifinals): Sonchai Ratiwatana & Sonchat Ratiwatana (Tha) bt Germain Gigounin (Bel) & Fabrice Martin (Fra) 6-4, 6-4; Saketh Myneni & Sanam Singh (Ind) bt Toshide Matsui & Yasutaka Yuchiyama (Jpn) 6-2, 5-7, 10-7.
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Aleksandr Nedovyesov (Kaz) bt Richard Becker (Ger) 7-6(2), 4-6, 7-6(6); Alexander Kudryatsev (Rus) bt Vijay Sundar Prashanth 6-0, 7-6(5); Adam Pavlasek (Cze) bt Somdev Devvarman (Ind) 6-3, 7-6(3); Yuichi Sugita (Jpn) bt Toshihide Matsui (Jpn) 6-4, 7-5; Saketh Myneni (Ind) bt Hiroki Moriya (Jpn) 6-1, 6-2; Adrian Menendez Macarias (Spn) bt Sanam Singh (Ind) 6-1, 6-2; Yuki Bhambri (Ind) bt Germain Gigounon (Bel) 7-5, 6-4; Kimmer Coppejans (Bel) bt Vishnu Vardhan (Ind) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
Doubles quarterfinals: Sonchai Ratiwatana & Sonchat Ratiwatana (Tha) bt Somdev Devvarman & Vijay Sundar Prashanth (Ind) 7-6(4), 6-3; Germain Gigounin (Bel) & Fabrice Martin (Fra) bt Richard Becker (Ger) & Aleksandr Kudryatsev (Rus) 7-6(2), 6-4; Saketh Myneni & Sanam Singh (Ind) bt Yuki Bhambri & Divij Sharan (Ind) 7-6(2), 6-2; Toshide Matsui & Yasutaka Yuchiyama (Jpn) bt Ti Chen & Liang-Choi Huang (Tpe) 7-6(6), 6-3.