Somdev, Yuki make progress

Pune, Oct 21: Davis Cuppers Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri, along with winner of the Indore ATP event Saketh Myneni, entered the second round of the KPIT-MSLTA ATP Challenger tennis tournament here Tuesday.

Also through to the second round were Asian Games doubles silver medallist Sanam Singh and qualifier Vijay Sundar Prashant as Indians enjoyed a fairly successful outing.

In first round matches, third seeded Devvarman proved too experienced for local wildcard Arjun Kadhe, scoring a 6-1, 6-3 win in exactly one hour, seventh seeded and Asian Games bronze medallist Bhambri needed 78 minutes to dispose of Liang-Chi Huang of Chinese Taipei 6-3, 6-0.

Asian Games mixed doubles gold medallist Myneni continued his great form outplaying Frenchman Fabrice Martin 6-2, 6-2 while Sanam Singh had a relatively easy day as his Italian opponent Stefano Travaglia conceded the match trailing 2-5 in the first set due to an inflamed ankle.

Prashant saved a set point in the first to scrape past wildcard entrant and upcoming junior S.K. Mukund 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-1 in a two-hour battle.

First round results:

Singles: 1-Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ) bt Danai Udomchoke (THA) 6-3, 6-1; Saketh Myneni bt Fabrice Martin (FRA) 6-2, 6-2; 5-Hiroki Moriya (JPN) bt Q-Ricardo Ghedin (ITA) 7-6 (4), 6-3; 4-Yuichi Sugita (JPN) bt Ramanathan Ramkumar 7-5, 7-6 (4); Toshihide Matsui (JPN) bt Ti Chen (TPE) 7-6(3), 6-3; Germain Gigounon (BEL) bt Q-Sarvar Ikramov (UZB) 6-1, 6-4; 7-Yuki Bhambri bt Liang-Chi Huang (TPE) 6-3, 6-0; 8-Kimmer Coppejans (BEL) bt Q-Purav Raja 6-4, 7-5; Adam Pavalsek (CZE) bt Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 6-4, 6-1; 3-Somdev Devvarman bt WC-Arjun Khade 6-1, 6-3; 6-Adrian Menedez-Maceiras (ESP) bt N. Sriram Balaji 6-4, 6-4; Sanam Singh bt Stefano Travaglia (ITA) 5-2 (retd); Q-N. Vijay Sundar Prasthanth bt WC-Sasi Kumar Mukund 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-1; 2-Alexander Kudryavtsev (RUS) bt WC-Sidharth Rawat 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Doubles: Germain Gigounon (BEL)/Fabrice Martin (FRA) bt WC-Arjun Kadhe/Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-7(4), 7-5, 10-7; Saketh Myneni/Sanam Singh bt Riccardo Ghedin (ITA)/Yannick Reuter (BEL) 6-1, 6-0; 2-Yuki Bhambri/Divij Sharan bt WC-Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan/Vishnu Vardhan 7-6(6), 6-7(4), 10-7; Toshihide Matsui (JPN)/Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN) bt 3-Ruben Gonzales (PHI)/Purav Raja 6-4, 6-7(4), 11-9.