Niki Poonacha stuns Sumit Nagal

Pune, February 22

Indian wildcard entry Niki Poonacha pulled off a stunning victory over top seed and compatriot Sumit Nagal to move to the quarterfinals of the ATP Challenger 100 here today.

Poonacha joined Sasikumar Mukund in the quarterfinals after he defeated Nagal 6-4 6-3 in 1 hour, nine minutes.

Nagal was leading 4-2 in the first set before Poonacha came back fighting to clinch a famous win and enter his first-ever quarterfinal at this level. Ramkumar Ramanathan was defeated by Russia’s Alexey Zakharov 6-4 6-4.

Two Indian pairs qualified for the doubles semifinals. Arjun Kadhe and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan notched up a 6-4 7-6 win over Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner of Germany. Ramkumar and Saketh Myneni recorded a 6-2 6-7(4) 10-2 win against Duje Ajdukovic (Croatia) and Enrico Dalla Valle (Italy).