Yuki Bhambri was the only Indian to reach the last eight of the Chennai Open ATP Challenger tennis tournament, with an easy 6-2, 6-3 win today over compatriot Sidharth Rawat.
Joining the Indian number two seed in the quarterfinals were top-seed Jordan Thompson of Australia and the No.3 and 4 seeds Duckhee Lee (Korea) and Mohammed Safwat (Egypt).
The two other Indian players in the fray - Arjun Khade and Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam, both qualifiers, fell by the wayside, losing in straight sets to Safwat and Lee respectively.
In the Bhambri-Rawat match, the former was in control and never dropped serve while breaking his rival's delivery twice in each set.
Bhambri played fluently from the baseline, hitting strongly off both flanks and kept Rawat on the run right through.
In the quarterfinals, he will meet Japan's Yasutaka Uchiyama, who beat Cem Ilkel of Turkey 6-4, 7-5.
The top-seed Thompson played a classical all-round game to oust qualifier Wishaya Trongcharoencharikul of Thailand in straight sets 6-3, 6-2.
He served and volleyed at times to keep the Thai player off balance. He meet Serbia's Danilo Petrovic for a place in the semifinals.
The Serbian advanced when seventh-seeded Enrique Lopez Perez of Spain conceded after having lost the first set.
In the doubles, top-seeded Ratiwatana twins Sanchai and Sonchat needed only 35 minutes to send the wild card Indian pair of Anvit Bendre and Kunal Anand packing for a loss of only two games. They will now meet Ilkel and Petrovic of Serbia in the semifinals tomorrow.
Results - Men's singles (2nd round) (Indians unless otherwise stated): Jordan Thompson (Aus-X1) bt Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (Thailand) 6-3, 6-2; Danilo Petrovic (SRB) bt Enrique Lopez Perez (ESP-X7) 6-4 (retired); Mohamed Safwat (EGY) Bt. [Q] Arjun Kadhe (IND) 6-4, 6-2; Pedro Martinez (ESP) bt Lucas Catarina (MON) 7-6(2), 6-0.
Antoine Escoffier (Fra) bt Gerard Granollers (ESP) 7-6(2), 6-2; Duckhee Lee (KOR-X3) bt Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam 6-2, 6-4; Yasutaka Uchiyama (Japan-X6) bt Cem Ilkel (Turkey) 6-4, 7-5; Yuki Bhambri (X2) bt Sidharth Rawat 6-2, 6-3.
Mens doubles (QF): Sanchai Ratiwatana/Sonchat Ratiwatana (Thailand-X1) bt Kunal Anand/Anvit Bendre 6-0, 6-2; Cem Ilkel (Turkey)/Danilo Petrovic (SRB) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran/N Vijay Sundar Prashanth 6-4, 2-6, [10-4].
Luca Margaroli (SUI)/Saketh Myneni (X4) bt Tuna Altuna (Turkey)/Mohamed Safwat (EGY) 6-7(4), 6-3, [13-11]; N Srirm Balaji/Vishnu Vardhan (X2) bt Alessandro Bega (ITA)/Kimmer Coppejans (BEL) 7-5, 6-3.
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