<p>Bengaluru: As one Indian after the other withered away on Wednesday, Mukund Sasikumar stood his ground to become the lone representative from the host nation to move into the quarterfinal of the SM Krishna Memorial ATP 50 Challenger here. </p>.<p>Playing the first match of the day on centre court, the 29-year-old Chennai man's patience paid dividends during his 6-4, 7-6 (1) win over qualifier Taiyo Yamanaka of Japan. </p>.<p>In the opening set, Sasikumar had to wait till the eighth game to smell his first opportunity and the world No. 536 duly broke Yamanaka to go ahead.</p>.<p>The second set turned out to be a closer affair. Despite saving three break points, the Indian succumbed in the fourth as the Japanese took a 4-3 lead before holding serve to extend it to 5-3. A good service game in the ninth helped Sasikumar narrow the gap to 4-5 and then went on to level the proceedings 5-5. </p>.Karnataka Open ATP 50 Challenger: Kriish, Manish, Mukund win; top Indian Karan ousted .<p>With both players holding their serves and making it 6-6, it was in the tie-breaker that Sasikumar unleashed his best to race away to a 7-1 win to close out the match in one hour 54 minutes. </p>.<p>Later in the day, wild card entrant and Bengaluru boy Kriish Tyagi's impressive run over two weeks was put to an end by third seed Hamish Stewart of Great Britain. The 19-year-old Indian charged in early by winning the first set 6-4. But Kriish flumbled despite a break-up in both the second and third sets, allowing the 26-year-old Stewart to use his experience to get back into the game and eventually clinch the match 6-4, 6-3. </p>.<p>Manish Sureshkumar, who slayed top-seeded Keegan Smith of the US, appeared to have nothing left in the tank as the wild card-holder was swatted aside 1-6, 1-6 by Belarus' Ilya Ivashka. The last of the four Indians, Sidharth Rawat, suffered a 3-6, 1-6 defeat at the hands of sixth seed Ognjen Milic of Serbia. </p>.<p><strong>Results (Pre-quarterfinal, prefix denotes seedings):</strong> </p><p>Mukund Sasikumar (Ind) bt Q-Taiyo Yamanaka (Jpn) 6-4, 7-6 (1); 2-Alastair Gray (GBR) bt Dominik Palan (CZE) 6-3, 7-6 (2); Ilya Ivashka bt WC-Manish Sureshkumar (Ind) 6-1, 6-1; 3-Hamish Stewart (GBR) bt WC-Kriish Tyagi (Ind) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; Alex Hernandez (Mex) bt Q-Naoya Honda (Jpn) 5-7, 7-5, 6-4; Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong (Mas) bt Yusuke Takahashi (Jpn) 6-3, 6-2; 6-Ognjen Milic (Srb) bt Sidharth Rawat (Ind) 6-3, 6-1; 4-Petr Bar Biryukov bt Leo Vithoontien (Jpn) 7-6 (4), 6-4.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: As one Indian after the other withered away on Wednesday, Mukund Sasikumar stood his ground to become the lone representative from the host nation to move into the quarterfinal of the SM Krishna Memorial ATP 50 Challenger here. </p>.<p>Playing the first match of the day on centre court, the 29-year-old Chennai man's patience paid dividends during his 6-4, 7-6 (1) win over qualifier Taiyo Yamanaka of Japan. </p>.<p>In the opening set, Sasikumar had to wait till the eighth game to smell his first opportunity and the world No. 536 duly broke Yamanaka to go ahead.</p>.<p>The second set turned out to be a closer affair. Despite saving three break points, the Indian succumbed in the fourth as the Japanese took a 4-3 lead before holding serve to extend it to 5-3. A good service game in the ninth helped Sasikumar narrow the gap to 4-5 and then went on to level the proceedings 5-5. </p>.Karnataka Open ATP 50 Challenger: Kriish, Manish, Mukund win; top Indian Karan ousted .<p>With both players holding their serves and making it 6-6, it was in the tie-breaker that Sasikumar unleashed his best to race away to a 7-1 win to close out the match in one hour 54 minutes. </p>.<p>Later in the day, wild card entrant and Bengaluru boy Kriish Tyagi's impressive run over two weeks was put to an end by third seed Hamish Stewart of Great Britain. The 19-year-old Indian charged in early by winning the first set 6-4. But Kriish flumbled despite a break-up in both the second and third sets, allowing the 26-year-old Stewart to use his experience to get back into the game and eventually clinch the match 6-4, 6-3. </p>.<p>Manish Sureshkumar, who slayed top-seeded Keegan Smith of the US, appeared to have nothing left in the tank as the wild card-holder was swatted aside 1-6, 1-6 by Belarus' Ilya Ivashka. The last of the four Indians, Sidharth Rawat, suffered a 3-6, 1-6 defeat at the hands of sixth seed Ognjen Milic of Serbia. </p>.<p><strong>Results (Pre-quarterfinal, prefix denotes seedings):</strong> </p><p>Mukund Sasikumar (Ind) bt Q-Taiyo Yamanaka (Jpn) 6-4, 7-6 (1); 2-Alastair Gray (GBR) bt Dominik Palan (CZE) 6-3, 7-6 (2); Ilya Ivashka bt WC-Manish Sureshkumar (Ind) 6-1, 6-1; 3-Hamish Stewart (GBR) bt WC-Kriish Tyagi (Ind) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; Alex Hernandez (Mex) bt Q-Naoya Honda (Jpn) 5-7, 7-5, 6-4; Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong (Mas) bt Yusuke Takahashi (Jpn) 6-3, 6-2; 6-Ognjen Milic (Srb) bt Sidharth Rawat (Ind) 6-3, 6-1; 4-Petr Bar Biryukov bt Leo Vithoontien (Jpn) 7-6 (4), 6-4.</p>