Sriram Balaji, Nedunchezhiyan make quarters of Houston Challenger Series

Sriram Balaji, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan will face the top seeds Jonathan Erlich of Israel and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico in the quarterfinals.

The pair of Sriram Balaji (left) and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan lost to the pair Marcos Giron and Alex Lawson the Round of 16 at the Knoxville Challenger .(File Photo)

Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan beat Luca Margaroli and Andrea Vavassori 6-3, 4-6, 10-7 to reach the doubles quarterfinals of the $162,480 Challenger tennis tournament in Houston, Texas, US.

The Indian pair was scheduled to face the top seeds Jonathan Erlich of Israel and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico in the quarterfinals.

In the $125,000 WTA event in Chinese Taipei, Ankita Raina, seeded fourth with Bibiane Schoofs of the Netherlands, was beaten by the Taipei team of Ya-Hsuan Lee and Fang-Hsien Wu 11-9 in the super tie-breaker of the doubles quarterfinals. The Indo-Dutch pair collected 29 WTA points and $750.

In the ITF men’s Futures in Mozambique, Rishab Agarwal beat the sixth seed Eric Vanshelboim of Ukraine 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals.

THE RESULTS $162,480 Challenger, Houston, US Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sriram Balaji & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Luca Margaroli (Sui) & Andrea Vavassori (Ita) 6-3, 4-6, [10-7]. $125,000 WTA, Chinese Taipei Doubles (quarterfinals): Ya-Hsuan Lee & Fang-Hsien Wu (Tpe) bt Bibiane Schoofs (Ned) & Ankita Raina 3-6, 6-3, [11-9]. $15,000 ITF men, Meshref, Kuwait Doubles (quarterfinals): Gauthier Oncllin (Bel) & Kai Wehnelt (Ger) bt Isshaque Eqbal & anurag Nenwani 6-1, 6-1. $15,000 ITF men, Maputo, Mozambique Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Rishab Agarwal bt Eric Vanshelboim (Ukr) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4; Dennis Uspensky (US) bt SD Prajwal Dev 4-0 (retired). $15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Mikel Aranzabal & Benjamin Winter (Esp) bt Sebastien Mathieu (GBR) & Koonwar Gupta 6-2, 6-3.