Air Asia Open: Saketh Myneni sails into last eight

Bangalore: Third seed Saketh Myneni saw off a stiff challenge from Dane Propoggia to move to the singles quarterfinals of the Air Asia Open but wild card Sumit Nagal bowed out after a three-set defeat, here on Wednesday.

Myneni, who won the Vietnam Open coming into this event, pipped the Australian 6-4 7-6 (9) in the second round of the USD 50,000 ATP Challenger event at the KSLTA Courts.

In another match, fifth seed Yannick Mertens of Belgium staved off the challenge of Junior Wimbledon Doubles Champion, Nagal 6-2 7-6(4).

Indian qualifier Prajnesh Gunneswaran gave a scare to top seed Adrian Menendez-Maceiras before losing 2-6 6-3 3-6.

The 18-year-old broke his higher ranked opponent in the 8th and 10th games before the tie-breaker was forced by the Belgian.

In the doubles competition, the Indo-American pair of Vijay Sundar Prashanth and Paul John Fruttero defeated Petros Chrysochos (Cyp) and Temur Ismailov (Uzb) 6-2, 6-2 to storm into the last four.

Joining them in the semi-final line-up was the third seeded pair of Ti Chen (Tpe) and Dane Propoggia (Aus) with a 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory against the Indian Wild card pair of Vishnu Vardhan and Nagal.

The second seeded Indian pair of Myneni and Sanam Singh demolished the Belarussian pair of Egor Gerasimov and Ilya Ivashka 7-6 (3) 6-1 to make it to the quarter-finals.