Indian tennis roundup: Prajnesh Gunneswaran shines in Liuzhou; Leander Paes reaches doubles final in Brest Challenger

Friday turned out to be a good day for Indian tennis as players from the country recorded three wins in ATP World Tour and Challenger events. At the $50,000+H Liuzhou Challenger in China, Prajnesh Gunneswaran kept India’s chances alive in singles by winning his quarter-final match.

The 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3 win over the third seed and World No. 106 Thomas Fabbiano helped the seventh-seeded Gunneswaran avenge the loss that he suffered in the final of the Ningbo Challenger last Sunday. While he had failed to convert 15 out of the 16 break points that he had earned in that match, this time the southpaw did not repeat the same mistakes.

The World No. 146 made use of five of the eight break points that he got to complete the win in 2 hours 8 minutes.

Gunneswaran will next take on the top seed and World No. 89 Radu Albot in his quest to reach the final of a Challenger event for the second consecutive week.

The Indian challenge, however, came to an end in the doubles section as the fourth seeds Saketh Myneni and N Sriram Balaji went down 7-5, 0-6, 5-10 to the second seeds Mao-Xin Gong and Ze Zhang.

Paes seeks second Challenger title this month

At the Brest Challenger in France, top seeds Leander Paes and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela lived up to their billing as they edged past Simone Bolelli and Daniele Braccialli 7-5, 7-6(5) to secure their spot in the final.

The two teamed up to win the Santo Domingo Open, an ATP Challenger tournament in the Dominican Republic, earlier this month. They also made it to the finals of the Chicago Challenger and the Monterrey Challenger before that.

In another semi-final, second seeds Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Austin Krajicek bowed out with a 2-6, 4-6 loss to Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen.

Sharan continues his run in Basel

At the ATP 500 tournament -- the Swiss Indoors 2018 in Basel, India’s Divij Sharan and New Zealand’s Artem Sitak came back from a blowout in the first set to record a 1-6, 7-6(8), 10-5 win over Marc-Andrea Huesler and Sem Verbeek en route to the semi-finals.

They will next face the unseeded combine of Alexander and Mischa Zverev for a place in the summit clash.

Sharan is the only Indian left at this Swiss tournament after Rohan Bopanna’s defeat in the quarter-finals.