Maha Open ATP Challenger 75: Felix Gill knocks out Sumit Nagal in pre-quarters

Pune, Feb 26 (IANS) Britain’s Felix Gill held his nerve in a high-intensity battle to defeat India’s top star Sumit Nagal 7-6(4), 0-6, 6-3 in a marathon encounter lasting 2 hours and 37 minutes and make it to the quarterfinals in the Maha Open ATP Challenger 75 Men's Tennis Championship played in the Mhalunge Balewadi Tennis Stadium in the Shiv Chhatrapati Kreeda Sankul in Pune. 

Nagal took the lead twice in the first set, breaking on two occasions, but he could not hold his serve, taking the first set to a closely contested tie-breaker, which Gill managed to win. In the second set, the 300-ranked Gill saw Nagal storm back with a dominant second-set bagel. With the scores at 1 set all, Gill regrouped strongly in the decider, securing the decisive break to close out a hard-fought victory and a revenge win, since Nagal had earlier defeated the Brit in Chennai two weeks ago.

The 8th seed Edas Butvilas of Lithuania delivered a clinical performance to outclass qualifier Tung-Lin Wu of Chinese Taipei 6-3, 6-0 in just 58 minutes. Butvilas controlled the baseline exchanges from the outset and wrapped up the contest in an emphatic fashion without allowing his opponent any rhythm in the second set.

In the biggest upset of the day, Japanese qualifier Masamichi Imamura shocked second seed Jay Clarke of Great Britain 6-2, 6-4 in 1 hour and 19 minutes. Imamura played fearless tennis, capitalising on crucial break-point opportunities to seal a straight-sets victory.

In the quarterfinals to be played on Friday, Indian hopes will rest on local boy and wildcard Manas Dhamne, who will take on Duje Ajdukovic of Croatia at 3 pm.

Results: 

Singles (2nd round): 

Edas Butvilas [8](Ltu) bt [Q] Tung-Lin Wu (Tpe) 6-3, 6-0; Felix Gill (Gbr) bt Sumit Nagal (Ind) 7-6(4), 0-6, 6-3; Q-Masamichi Imamura (Jpn) bt Jay Clarke[2] 6-2, 6-4;  

Doubles (quarterfinal round): 

[4] Jisung Nam (Kor) / Patrik Niklas-Salminen (Fin) bt Ryuki Matsuda (Jpn) /Ilia Simakin 6-3, 6-3;

Yuta Shimizu (Jpn) / Seita Watanabe [3] (Jpn) bt [Wc] Saketh Myneni (Ind) / Digvijaypratap Singh (Ind) 6-4, 6-4;

 Pruchya Isaro (Tha) / Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (Ind)[2] bt Jay Clarke (Gbr) / Michael Geerts (Bel) 1-0 retd.

--IANS

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