CHENNAI OPEN | Indian challenge in singles comes to a shuddering halt

The Indian challenge in the singles event at the Chennai Open ATP Challenger fizzled out with the exit of Sumit Nagal and Sidharth Rawat in the second round at the SDAT Tennis Stadium here on Thursday.

The India No. 1 took the first set against Russian Petr Bar Biryukov and appeared on course for a routine win when he began to flounder. He let slip three break-points in the second set which allowed his opponent to stay afloat.

Once into the tie-break, the left-hander, ranked No. 305, used his big serve to good effect to push the match into the decider. Also, he raced to a 3-0 lead.

Though Nagal fought back to level at three-all, Biryukov earned the decisive break in the eighth game and held serve to seal a 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3 win in just over two hours.

Earlier, Rawat went down 2-6, 3-6 to Maks Kasnikowski.

In the doubles event, the Indo-Thai pairing of Niki Poonacha and Pruchya Isaro advanced to the last four with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Lohithaksha Bathrinath and Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam. They will face the all-Indian pairing of S.D. Prajwal Dev and Nitin Sinha for a spot in the final.

The results: Second round: Luca Castelnuovo (Sui) bt Oliver Crawford (GBr) 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(5); Ilia Simakin bt Philip Sekulic (Aus) 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(1); Frederico Ferreira Silva (Por) bt Duje Ajdukovic (Cro) 6-3, 6-4; Petr Bar Biryukov (Rus) bt Sumit Nagal 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3; Maks Kasnikowski (Pol) bt Sidharth Rawat 6-2, 6-3; Ioannis Xilas (Gre) bt Eric Vanshelboim (Ukr) 6-3, 6-4.

Doubles: Quarterfinals: Pruchya Isaro (Tha) & Niki Poonacha bt Lohithaksha Bathrinath & Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam 6-4, 6-1; Jay Clarke (GBr) & Mukund Sasikumar bt Siddhant Banthia & Saketh Myneni 7-5, 6-4; S.D. Prajwal Dev & Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Ishaque Eqbal & Manish Sureshkumar 4-6, 6-2, [10-8]; Felix Gill & Alastair Gray (GBr) bt Luca Castelnuovo (Sui) & Rio Noguchi (Jpn) 7-6(2), 7-6(5).