Chennai Open ATP Challenger: Defending champions Ramanathan, Myneni reach doubles final

CHENNAI: Indian duo Ramkumar Ramanathan and Saketh Myneni moved one step closer to a second consecutive Chennai Open ATP Challenger title with a hard-fought 7-6, 7-6 win over top seeds Ray Ho and Matthew Christopher Romios on Friday evening. The Indian duo had their hands full in the contest, being forced to save a set point in the second set tiebreak before emerging winners on their third match point.

However, the second seeded Indian duo of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Vijay Sundar Prashanth went down in a match tiebreak to Shintaro Mochizuki and Kaito Uesugi in the other semi-final. After the Indians won the first set 6-4, the all-Japanese pair won the second set by the same scoreline and then won the deciding match tiebreak 10-6.

In the singles draw, top seed Billy Harris advanced to the last four with a 6-3, 7-6 win over Kazakhstan’s Timofey Skatov. The Kazakh player put up a brave fight in the second set, saving match points in the 10th and 12th games and even held a set point before Harris came through in just over two-and-a-half hours. Harris will meet Sweden’s Elias Ymer on Saturday. The Sweden scored a comfortable 6-2, 6-3 win over Japan’s Rio Noguchi.

Czech Dalibor Svrcina and France’s Kyrian Jacquet will face off in the other semi-final. Svrcina had an easy passage into the semi-finals with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Ukraine’s Oleksandr Ovcharenko. Jacquet came from 4-2 down in the final set and saved a match point against fifth seed Shintaro Mochizuki before eventually coming out a 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 in the most exciting clash of the day. Saturday will see semi-final action in the singles draw as well as the doubles final. The Chennai Open is the first in a series of ATP Challenger events to be held in India. The tournaments to follow are scheduled to be held at Delhi, Pune and Bengaluru. The singles final has been scheduled for Sunday.

Results: Singles: QF: Billy Harris (GBR) bt Timofey Skatov (KAZ) 6-3, 7-6(6); Dalibor Svrcina (CZE) bt Oleksandr Ovcharenko (UKR) 6-3, 6-0; Kyrian Jacquet (FRA) bt Shintaro Mochizuki (JPN) 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(6); Elias Ymer (SWE) bt Rio Noguchi (JPN) 6-2, 6-3. Doubles: SF: Saketh Myneni (IND)/Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt Ray Ho (TPE)/Matthew Christopher Romios (AUS) 7-6, 7-6; Shintaro Mochizuki (JPN)/Kaito Uesugi (JPN) bt [2] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) 4-6, 6-4, 10-6