Tennis Roundup | P Gunneswaran advances to round of 16 in Japan, Ankita Raina loses in China

Tennis Roundup | P Gunneswaran advances to round of 16 in Japan, Ankita Raina loses in China

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India’s second seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran had a smooth sail in Japan’s Kaohsiung Challenger on Tuesday as he overcame Shuichi Sekiguchi 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the pre-quarterfinals on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Ankita Raina was ousted by Magdalena Frech of Poland in Guangzhou’s $500,000 event.

Playing against ATP rank 286, Gunneswaran was always the favourite to advance and the same happened as the Indian was seen breaking the Japanese in just the fourth game. It was more than enough to get Gunneswaran over the line in the first set. 

However, just when Gunneswaran was supposed to have a straightforward second set, things got trickier as Sekiguchi broke the Indian in only the second game. The World No. 86, however, recovered in time to break the Japanese in the fifth and seventh game to seal the match.

In another match, Sasi Kumar Mukund had it tough in the first round. However, the Indian did brilliantly to convert two of his three break points to overcome a tough and determined Goncalo Oliveira. He eventually won 7-6(8), 3-6, 7-6(6).

In other tournaments, India’s women top seed Ankita Raina was downed by Polish Magdalena Frech 6-1, 6-1 at the $500,000 WTA event in Guangzhou, while Dhruv got the better of Lenny Hampel of Austria and Aryan Goveas in the ITF men’s Futures in Cairo, alongside Pakistani partner Muzammil Murtaza.

Results-

$500,000 WTA, Guangzhou, China Qualifying singles (second and final round): Magdalena Frech (Pol) bt Ankita Raina 6-1, 6-1; First round: Ankita Raina bt Sachia Vickery (US) 6-3, 6-2

$162,480 Challenger, Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei Singles (second round): Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt Shuichi Sekiguchi (Jpn) 6-3, 6-2; First round: Sasi Kumar Mukund bt Goncalo Oliveira 7-6(8), 3-6, 7-6(6)

$15,000 ITF men, Nanchang, China Singles (first round): Anirudh Chandrasekar bt Aliaksandr Liaonenka (Blr) 6-3, 6-4

$15,000 ITF men, Cairo, Egypt Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Muzammil Murtaza (Pak) & Dhruv Sunish bt Lenny Hampel (Aut) & Aryan Goveas 6-3, 6-4

$15,000 ITF women, Tabarka, Tunisia Singles (first round): Alessandra Simone (Ita) bt Humera Shaik 6-1, 6-1; Diana Chehoudi (Ned) bt Jennifer Luikham 6-2, 6-1; Alice Gillan (GBR) bt Niditra Rajmohan 6-1, 6-1; Katharina Hering (Ger) bt Bhuvana Kalva 6-1, 6-1

$15,000 ITF women, Cairo, Egypt Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sathwika Sama & Saumya Vig bt Bojana Marinkovic (Srb) & Anastasia Zolotareva (Rus) 6-1, 6-2; Tamara Milosevic (Srb) & Avika Sagwal bt Margarita Lazareva & Anna Makhorikina (Rus) 2-6, 6-4, [10-8]

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