Yuki reaches quarters of Karshi challenger, Balaji ousted

Yuki Bhambri knocked out seventh seed Aldin Setkic in straight sets to move to the singles quarterfinals of the ATP Karshi Challenger but it was all over for his compatriot N Sriram Balaji.

Unseeded Yuki battled past his opponent from Bosnia and Herzegovina 7-5, 7-5 in the second round of the $75,000 hard court event.

Yuki Bhambri knocked out seventh seed Aldin Setkic in straight sets to move to the singles quarterfinals of the ATP Karshi Challenger but it was all over for his compatriot N Sriram Balaji.

Unseeded Yuki battled past his opponent from Bosnia and Herzegovina 7-5, 7-5 in the second round of the $75,000 hard court event. The Indian saved five of the seven breakpoints he faced and broke his rival four times in the match which lasted one hour and 58 minutes.

Only Indian left in the far, Yuki next faces top seeded Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, who faced stiff resistance from Karim-Mohammed Maamoun before prevailing 6-4, 7-6(5). Meanwhile, Balaji lost 3-6, 4-6 to Egor Gerasimov from Belarus in his second round contest.

Ramkumar Ramanathan, Vishnu Vardhan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran had all lost in the first round.