KPIT-MSTLA Challenger: Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Sumit Nagal enter pre-quarterfinals with straight sets wins; Saketh Myneni eliminated

Pune: Led by Prajnesh Gunneswaran, India’s top singles players progressed to the pre-quarterfinals with contrasting victories, but Saketh Myneni was knocked out of the KPIT-MSTLA Challenger after being in a position of strength here on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_5977141” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Prajnesh Gunneswaran. Reuters[/caption] India number one and top seed Prajnesh needed just 49 minutes to demolish Chandril Sood 6-1, 6-3 while third seed Sumit Nagal quelled a late challenge from Aryan Goveas to emerge a 6-3, 7-6(5) winner in one hour and 16 minutes. Sixth seed Ramkumar Ramnathan hammered eight aces on his way to a 6-3, 6-4 win over Greek player Markos Kalovelonis. Eighth seed Sasikumar Mukund didn’t have to break much sweat in getting past Japanese doubles specialist Toshide Matsui 6-2, 6-3 in his second-round match at the Balewadi Sports Complex. With 20-year-old Manish Sureshkumar already into the last 16, there are now five Indians in contention for quarter-final places on Thursday. Myneni was leading 6-3, 4-2 in his second-round clash against Turkish Ergi Kirkin but the 10th seeded Indian could not keep the momentum going to eventually lose 6-3, 5-7, 4-6. Fifteenth seed Brydan Klein of Britian also came back from being down 2-4 in the third set to end the challenge of Siddarth Rawat, winning 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in little over two hours. Wild card Dhruv Sunish gave a good account of himself by taking 13th seed Ivan Nedelko to the ropes but the experienced 33-year-old Russian, ranked 617 places above the Indian, prevailed 6-3, 5-7, 6-2. Seventh-seeded Roberto Ortega-Olmedo of Spain was too good for young Indian Anniruddha Chandrasekar, who lost 3-6, 2-6. Turkey’s 12th seed Cem Ilkel ended the lucky run of Kaza Vinayak Sharma with a 6-2, 6-1 scoreline. Dutchman Tim Van Rijthoven ended the challenge of Indian qualifier Dalwinder Singh 6-3, 6-1 in less than an hour.