CHENNAI: Both Sumit Nagal and Petr Bar Biryukov had an interesting day at the Chennai Challenger on Thursday. The latter won but was clearly feeling the conditions on more than one occasion. Sumit Nagal, the India No. 1 and the eighth seed here, won the first set without fuss but lost the next two as a below par start to the year threatens to derail his season when there are valuable points to be had at home. In the end, the Russian prevailed 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3.
Nagal, who suffered a minor problem a few weeks ago, lost both his singles matches against Netherlands in the Davis Cup in Bengaluru last week. He would want to arrest this and regain momentum over the next few years.
At various stages of the match, Biryukov suggested that he wasn't fond of playing the game. His head was down whenever he lost a point. He also dropped his racquet on a few occasions. The general play reflected a very error-strewn match from his side — 43 unforced errors to Nagal's 25 but the Indian couldn't capitalise. This defeat also marks the end of the Indian challenge in the men's singles. Earlier in the day, Indian qualifier Sidharth Rawat was defeated by Maks Kasnikowski in straight sets.
Doubles: Top dogs into semis
Top seeds Niki Poonacha/Pruchi Isaro, who had played in the Australian Open in January (Round 1 exit), advanced to the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-1 win over wildcard pair Lohithaksha Bathrinath/Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam. They will face Indian duo of SD Prajwal Dev and Nitin Sinha on Friday. Meanwhile, Siddant Banthia and Saketh Myneni were knocked out by Indian-British duo of Sasikumar Mukund and Jay Clarke.
Results (Select): Singles: Petr Bar Biryukov bt Sumit Nagal 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3; Ilia Simakin bt Philip Sekulic 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (1); Doubles: Pruchya/Poonacha bt Lohithaksha/Abhinav 6-4, 6-1; Clarke/Sasikumar bt Siddhant/Myneni 7-5, 6-4.