Chennai open: Nagal serves it to Palan

Chennai, February 9

India’s top-ranked singles player Sumit Nagal defeated unseeded Dominik Palan of the Czech Republic 6-3 6-3 to advance to the semifinals of the Chennai Open here today.

The second-seeded Nagal will face third seed Dalibor Svrcina of the Czech Republic tomorrow. Svrcina overcame India’s Mukund Sasikumar 6-7(6) 6-2 6-4.

Chun-Hsin Tseng of Taiwan beat Enrico Dalla Valle of Italy 7-5 6-2 and will be up against top seed Luca Nardi of Italy. Nardi fought past compatriot Stefano Napolitano with a 6-4 3-6 6-0 victory.

It was India’s day to shine in the doubles as the pair of Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan ousted the second-seeded Japanese duo of Toshihide Matsui and Kaito Uesugi 6-3 6-2.

It will be an all-Indian final as Myneni and Ramanathan will take on fourth seeds Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli and Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha, who fought off the German challenge of Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner 6-3 4-6 10-7.

Pospisil gets wildcard

Bengaluru: Former top-30 Canadian tennis star Vasek Pospisil, whose career has been hit by a spate of injuries, was today handed a wild card entry in the singles main draw of the Bengaluru Open Challenger event.

Pospisil had won the 2014 Wimbledon doubles title with American Jack Sock and also made the singles quarterfinal at the grasscourt Major in 2015. The 33-year-old old was ranked as high as 25 in singles in 2014.