Myneni a step closer to main draw

New York, August 26

Saketh Myneni is one win away from making the singles main draw of the US Open as he advanced to the final qualifying round with a 7-6(6) 6-4 win over American Mitchell Krueger here.

Myneni, ranked 143rd in the ATP chart, now has a chance to play in the singles main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career. He faces Pedja Krstin from Serbia in the final qualifying round.

The big-serving Indian had lost in the third qualifying round at the Australian Open and bowed out in the second round of qualifying at the French Open earlier this year.

It was a tight first set in which Myneni recovered from an early break to make it 4-4 and prevailed in a nerve-wracking tie-breaker.

In the second set, it was Myneni who drew first blood. He broke in the seventh game and served out the match in the 10th after battling hard for one hour and 30 minutes. Krstin is placed 57 places below him at 200 in the ATP rankings.

Davis Cup: Unchanged team for tie vs Spain

New Delhi: With Yuki Bhambri and Somdev Devvarman still recovering from injuries, India is set to field the same team that beat South Korea 4-1 in July in the upcoming Davis Cup World Group Play-off against Spain. Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan will do the singles duty and Leander Paes will yet again combine with Rohan Bopanna for the doubles rubber in September 16-18 tie. It will be a huge task for the Indian team to present a solid challenge to Spain, who boast 12 players in singles top-100. — Agencies