Pune: Niki Poonacha stunned top-seeded Sumit Nagal in an All Indian singles match to move into the singles quarterfinal as two Indian doubles teams advanced to the semi-finals of the PMRDA MahaOpen ATP Challenger 100 Men’s International Tennis Championships, organised by Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) at the Mahalunge Balewadi Stadium.
In a second-round match, Wildcard Niki Poonacha made his first-ever quarter-final at this level stunning top seed Sumit Nagal 6-4,6-3 in a match lasting 1 hour 9 minutes. Sumit Led 4-2 in the first set before Niki levelled the scores.
Niki joins another Wildcard Sasikumar Mukund In the singles quarter finals. In the quarter-finals Poonacha who made his debut in the Davis Cup against Pakistan will take on seventh-seed Australian Dave Sweeny. In contrast, Sasikumar Mukund will take on third-seed Australian Adam Walton.
In another match involving an Indian player Qualifier Alexey Zakharov of Russia kept up his splendid run stopping Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-4 in 1 hour 27 minute match.
Alexey Zakharov will now take on second seed Duje Ajdukovic in the quarter-finals, Ajdukovic had little trouble getting past American Tristan Boyer 6-1, 6-2 to book his spot in the last eight. Seventh seed Dane Sweeny, of Australia, scored a facile 6-4, 6-1 win over Poland’s Maks Kasinowski.
However Indian pairs continued to excel top-seeded pair of Arjun Kadhe and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan scored a 6-4, 7-6 win over Germans Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner to move into the last four
The red-hot duo Ramkumar Ramanathan/ Saketh Myneni, who claimed Challenger titles in Chennai and Bengaluru in the last two weeks, won their 10th consecutive match with a 6-2, 6-7 (4), 10-2 over another German pair of Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner, Both the teams are on the opposite sides of the draw keeping the hopes of an all-Indian double final alive.
Singles Main Draw Second Round
[WC] Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (IND) def. [1] Sumit Nagal (IND) 6-4,6-3
[2] Duje Ajdukovic (CRO) def. Tristian Boyer (USA) 6-1, 6-2
[7] Dane Sweeny (AUS) def. Maks Kasnikowski (POL) 6-4, 6-1
[Q] Alexey Zakharov def. [WC] Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-4
Doubles Main Draw Quarter-Finals
[1] Arjun Kadhe (IND) / Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) def.Jakob Schnaitter (GER) / Mark Wallner (GER) 6-4, 7-6 (6)
Saketh Myneni (IND) / Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) def.Duje Ajdukovic (CRO) / Enrico Dalla Valle (ITA) 6-2, 6-7 (4), 10-2
[3] Dan Added (FRA) / Yunseong Chung (KOR) def. vs [WC] Siddhanth Banthia (IND) / Parikshit Somani (IND) 3-6, 7-5, 10-7
Tristian Schoolkate (AUS) / Adam Walton (AUS) def.Toshihide Matsui (JPN) / Kaito Uesugi (JPN) 6-1, 6-0
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