Ranjeet, Rohan in quarterfinals

Gowda bows to Japans Tatyuko

On a day when most of the other players had to slug it out to book their last-eight berths, the two youngsters hardly broke sweat, blazing past their opponents in quick time at the Marena Sports Complex.

Looking solid right from the onset, Murugesan dismissed Sumit Shinde 6-3, 6-3 while Gajjar was hardly challenged in his 6-2, 6-3 defeat of P Vignesh.

Local lad and wildcard Vinod Gowda produced an impressive display before running out of steam and going down to third-seeded Japanese Niki Tatyuko 7-6 (7-4), 6-1. Gowda led 5-4 in the first set but a couple of unforced errors and lack of experience cost the Indian dear as Tatyuko hit back to take the set to a tie-break. The Japanese, then, served well to clinch the tie-break before stepping on the accelerator to run away with the second set and the match.

In the longest match of day, Russia’s Vitali Reshetnikov outlasted a plucky Tejesvi Rao 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5. After taking the opening set, the Russian was upstaged by a spirited Tejesvi in the second. However, just when things appeared to be going out of control, the Russian regained his composure to post a gritty victory.

In another pre-quarterfinal tie, Ankit Sachdeva knocked out Abhijeet Tiwari to advance into the last eight phase.

Results (pre-quarterfinals):  Ranjeet Virali Murugesan bt Sumit Shinde  6-3, 6-3; Ankit Sachdeva bt Abhijeet Tiwari 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5; Vijayant Malik bt Sudanwa Sitaram 6-2, 0-6, 6-2; Kaza Vinayak Sharma bt Saubrah Patil 6-1,6-0; Vitali Reshetnikov bt Tejesvi Rao 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5; Vikram Reddy bt Koki Matsunaga 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2); Rohit Gajjar bt P Vignesh 6-2, 6-3; Niki Tatyuko bt Vinod Gowda 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.