Astana Challenger: Saketh Myneni defeats Mikhail Youzhny

Youzhny, the former World No. 8, goes down 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to the doughty Indian in the pre-quarterfinals.

File Photo: Saketh Myneni will take on Daniel Brands of Germany in the quarterfinals.

Qualifier Saketh Myneni continued to assert his all-court game as he downed former World No. 8 and top seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the pre-quarterfinals of the USD 125,000 Challenger in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

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The 30-year-old Saketh had lost to Youzhny in their only previous meeting in the ATP 250 Chennai Open last year. It may be recalled that the 36-year-old Youzhny, ranked 105 now, had beaten Rafael Nadal 6-0, 6-1 in the final of the Chennai Open in 2008. In the same tourney, he had also defeated Marin Cilic for the loss of five games in the semifinals.

In the quarterfinals, Saketh will play Daniel Brands of Germany.

Hard-working win for Ankita

In the ITF women’s tournament in Thailand, the champion last week at the same venue — Ankita Raina — got off to a tough start as she overcame a first-set loss to beat wild card Chompoothip Jundakate of Thailand.

Ankita will play compatriot and training partner Rutuja Bhosale in the pre-quarterfinals.

• EUR 561,345 ATP, Bastad, Sweden
• Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Jurgen Melzer (Aut) & Philipp Petzschner (Ger) bt Sriram Balaji & Vishnu Vardhan 5-7, 6-4, [10-8].
• USD 623,710 ATP, Newport, U.S.
• Singles (first round): Victor Estrella Burgos (Dom) bt Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-1.
• Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ken Skupski (GBR) & Purav Raja bt Ruben Bemelmans (Bel) & Denis Kudla (U.S.) 7-5, 6-4.
• USD 125,000 Challenger men, Astana, Kazakhstan
• Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Saketh Myneni bt Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
• Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ivan Gakhov & Romann Safiullin (Rus) bt Toshihide Matsui (Jpn) & Saketh Myneni 6-2, 6-2; Denis Yevseyev (Kaz) & Arjun Kadhe bt Cem Ilkel (Tur) & Roberto Ortega-Olmedo (Esp) 7-5, 2-6, [10-1].
• USD 25,000 ITF men, Kunshan, China
• Doubles (quarterfinals): Ajeet Rai (Nzl) & Aryan Goveas bt Liu Hanyi & Zhao Runyu (Chn) 6-2, 6-2.
• USD 15,000 ITF men, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Isaac Stoute (GBR) bt Siddharth Vishwakarma 6-4, 6-2.
• Doubles (pre-quarterfials): Sumit Sarkar (U.S.) & Anurag Nenwani bt Shamirul Shahril Mohd. Adam Das (Mas) & Muzammil Murtaza (Pak) 6-2, 6-4.
• USD 25,000 ITF women, Nonthaburi, Thailand
• Singles (first round): Ankita Raina bt Chompoothip Jundakate (Tha) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.
• Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rutuja Bhosale & Pranjala Yadlapalli bt Punnin Kovapitukted & Tamachan Momkoonthod (Tha) 6-2, 6-2.
• USD 15,000 ITF women, Jakarta, Indonesia
• Singles (first round): Ho ching Wu (Hkg) bt Rishika Sunkara 6-1, 6-3; Sai Samhitha bt Deria Nur Haliza (Ina) 6-0, 6-2; Kanika Vaidya bt Rifanty Kahfiani (Ina) 6-0, 4-6, 6-3.