CHENNAI: Fifth seed Ivan Gakhov of Russia, with his smooth game, packed off top seed Saketh Myneni of India 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) in the men's quarterfinals of the MCC-SR Subramaniam Memorial ITF Men's Futures tennis tournament at the MCC courts here on Thursday.
Gakhov, on the strength of his serves, superior ground strokes and not to forget his excellent court mobility, out-classed Myneni. The Russian exploited Myneni's lack of experience on claycourts.
Saket had played only two claycourt tournaments in the last ten years, since he won the junior U-18 National Clay court title at the MCC courts. VM Ranjeeth capatalised on the familiar conditions to outsmart Antoine-Michel Alexeev of Switzerland 6-3,3-6,6-3. In the doubles semifinals, top seeds Sriram Balaji and VM Ranjeeth had a comfortable 6-2, 6 -4 win over Akash Wagh and Anvit Bendre. In the other game, Sood brothers, Chandril and Lakshit disposed off fourth seeds Nikky Poonacha and PC Vignesh 6-4, 6-3.
Results: Singles: Quarterfinals: Virali-Murugesan Ranjeet bt Antoine-Michel Alexeev (SUI) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt M Descotte (ARG) 6-1, 6-0; Sriram Balaji bt Yannick Thivant (FRA) 4-6, 6-4, 2-1 retd; Ivan Gakhov (RUS) bt Saketh Myneni (IND) 6-3, 7-6 (7-1). Doubles: Semifinals: C Sood/L Sood bt Niki Kaliyanda/Vignesh Peranamallur 6-4, 6-3; Sriram/VM Ranjeet bt Anvit Bendre/Akash Wagh 6-2, 6-4.