Nagal crashes out; Myneni, Gunneswaran enter semi-finals

BENGALURU: Sumit Nagal’s dream of defending his Bengaluru Open title went up in smoke after he was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the $1,50,000 ATP Challenger event by compatriot Saketh Myneni here on Thursday.

Nagal lost in straight sets 4-6 4-6 to Myneni, a wild card entrant.

Joining Myneni in the semi-finals was fourth seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who did not have to break a sweat to get the better of Sasi Kumar Mukund, who had to withdraw owing to a severe back pain after losing three service points he managed on the day.

In the semifinals, Myneni will clash with Aleksandr Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan, who won 6-4 6-2 over Frederico Ferreira Silva of Portugal while Gunneswaran will meet Canadian Brayden Schnur. Schnur beat Cem Ilkel of Turkey 6-3 6-4 in another quarter-final encounter.

Myneni and Nagal played contrasting tennis. While the former waited for opportunities to catch his opponent on the wrong foot, the latter as usual played with aggression, hitting long and deep shots.

With a break in the very first game, Myneni, ranked 213 in the world, bagged the first set 6-4.

The second set saw both the players swerving on their serves, owing to an extra bit of a wind. The set took a different pattern from the fifth game, where the Delhiite, with two game points up, lost his serve. The serves were broken for the next four games as well. Nagal lost his serve in the seventh and ninth games because of double faults while Myneni was broken in the sixth and eight games, thanks to unforced errors.

Finally, Myneni kept the ball in play when it mattered and closed out the set and match 6-4 6-4.

In another quarter-final, Gunneswaran hardly had to do anything to register the win as his Mukund conceded the match owing to back pain.

“It was at the fag end of my warm up that the pain showed up and then I could not walk anymore with pain shooting in my lower back,” Mukund said. NEW DELHI: Mid-fielder Jackichand Singh and left back Nishu Kumar were on Thursday included in India’s 22-member squad for the forthcoming away international FIFA friendly against Jordan slated to be held on November 17.

Nishu and Jackichand were the only two changes National coach Stephen Constantine made in his squad from the team that played a goal-less draw against China in the last international friendly in October. Constantine emphasised that the forthcoming friendly against Jordan will “aid India’s preparation” for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in UAE. “We want to do well in AFC Asian Cup and the clash against Jordan will aid us. Jordan are a good side and they have a number of good players in their ranks,” he said. Jordan, who are ranked 112 in the latest FIFA rankings, lost 1-2 to Croatia in their last friendly fixture.

The news of recent floods in Jordan did crop up in talk among the players and striker Jeje Lalpekhlua said the team needs to “accept it and move ahead”. “There is nothing one can do about natural calamities. We have to accept it and move ahead. Come what may, we are to play our hearts out and there won’t be any compromise on that,” he said.