Saketh Myneni goes down blazing against Stepanek

Davis Cupper Saketh Myneni went down with guns blazing against former world No.8 Radek Stepanek in the second and final qualifying round of the $4,691,730 Rogers Cup ATP Tour event in Toronto.

The 37-year-old Stepanek, who had won the Australian Open and US Open with Leander Paes and was ranked a career-high No.4 in doubles, prevailed 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 6-4 in a battle of wits that lasted two hours and 32 minutes.

The 28-year-old Saketh fired 14 aces but had eight doublefaults as well, as against four aces and five doublefaults by the Czech.

While Saketh converted three of five breakpoints, Stepanek did one better from eight breakpoints that he forced.

For his fine effort in the big league, Saketh collected $3,345 and 16 ATP points.

The results:

$4,691,730 Rogers Cup ATP Tour, Toronto, Canada

Qualifying singles (second and final round): Radek Stepanek (Cze) bt Saketh Myneni 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 6-4.

$10,000 ITF men, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

Qualifying singles (second round): Manish Sureshkumar bt Sagar Ahuja 6-2, 6-0;

Gokul Suresh bt Luca Potenza (Ita) 6-4, 6-2.

$10,000 ITF men, Telavi, Georgia

Qualifying singles (second round): Maciej Nowak (Pol) bt Aditya Deswal 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Gianluca Acquaroli & Filippo BOrella (Ita) bt Francesco Cano (Ita) & Naesar Jewoor 6-2, 6-7(5), 10-5.

$10,000 ITF men, Xatvia, Spain

Qualifying singles (third and final round): Aitor Sanz Llopis (Esp) bt Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

$10,000 ITF men, Thu DAu Mot City, Vietnam

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Xiao Gong (Chn) & Seong Chan Hong (Kor) bt Zhao-Tai Li (Chn) & Rishab Agarwal 4-6, 6-3, 10-6;

Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul & Kittiphong Wachiramanowong (Tha) bt Mohit Mayur & SAsi Kumar 6-7(5), 7-6(7), 10-5;

Antoine Escoffier & Jonathan Kanar (Fra) bt Maciej Smola (Pol) & Jatin Dahiya 7-6(5), 6-3.