Tennis
Maha Open ATP Challenger: Indian campaign ends before the finals
Niki Poonacha and two Indian doubles pairs were knocked out at the Maha Open ATP Challenger 100 event.
Niki Poonacha defeated Sumit Nagal in the pre-quarters of the Maha Open ATP 100 Challenger tournament. (Credits- MSLTA)
Indian campaign ended at the Maha Open ATP Challenger 100 tournament as Niki Poonacha and two men's doubles pairs were knocked out on Friday.
Poonacha did most of the hard work but missed a match point to go down to seventh-seeded Dane Sweeny of Australia.
Sweeny came back from a 2-5 deficit in the third set to end the challenge of the Indian wildcard, eventually prevailing 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(3) in a contest that lasted a little over two hours.
Earlier in the pre-quarterfinals, Poonacha had defeated India's number one Sumit Nagal.
In the men's doubles, the local favourite pair of Arjun Kadhe and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, went down 3-6, 4-6 in just under an hour to third seeds Dan Added of France and Yunseong Chung of South Korea.
The other Indian pair of Ramkumar Ramanathan and Saketh Myneni, on a roll given their recent domination, saw their 10-match winning run come to an end.
Ramanathan and Myneni were beaten by the Australian pair of Tristian Schoolkate and Adam Walton 6-7(6), 2-6.
In singles, Walton will take on Duje Ajdukovic of Croatia in the semifinals, having beaten Russia's Alexey Zakharov 6-4, 6-3 in a quarterfinal match.
The fourth-seeded Valentin Vacherot also reached the semifinals with a 7-6(2), 6-4 win over France's Enzo Couacaud, setting up a clash against Sweeny in the final four.
