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Top-seed N Sriram Balaji advanced to the singles quarterfinals of the 15,000 USD ITF Futures being played at the hard courts of the Rajiv Gandhi Sports Complex in Rohtak in Haryana.
Balaji, who slipped eight places in the latest ATP rankings to 337th last week, brushed aside fellow country mate Sagar Ahuja 7-6(4), 6-1 in the second round.
The 23 year old was tested in the opening set with both players serving solidly and covering the court well. The set went into a tie-breaker where the number one seed prevailed over Sagar.
The zing went out of Sagar’s game in the second game. Balaji, who was seeded second in Chandigarh ITF Futures and was upset in the quarterfinals by Saketh Myneni who later went on to win the title, grew in confidence, essaying razor-sharp groundstrokes and moving well on both sides of the court.
He broke Sagar’s serve regularly to pocket the second set at 6-1.
Balaji now runs into a tough opponent in fifth seed Vijayant Malik in the quarterfinals – Vijayant had toppled the top seed Yuki Bhambri in the quarterfinals of the Chandigarh ITF Futures and reached the final, eventually losing to Saketh Myneni.
Earlier, Balaji breezed past Lakshit Sood in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round.
Vijayant Malik made it to the singles quarterfinals after disposing off fellow Indian Ronak Manuja in convincing fashion 6-1, 6-1.
Meanwhile, third seed Saketh Myneni also romped into the quarterfinals – Fresh from winning the Chandigarh ITF Futures, the 25 year old was high on confidence as he made short work of country mate Abhijeet Tiwari 6-0, 6-3. Saketh now plays Vignesh Peranamallur who beat Ajai Selvaraj 6-2, 6-3.
Second seed Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan strolled into the last eight stage, accounting for Sagar Manjanna 6-1, 6-0 and now plays Anvit Bendra who put it across Arpit Sharma 6-3, 6-4.
Fourth seed Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan dropped a set before out-duelling Vignesh Veerabadran 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 and will be now up against sixth seed Vinayak Sharma Kaza who pipped Saurabh Patil 6-0, 6-1.
It may be worth recalling things have looking bright for the Indian women in the ITF Futures circuit. Ankita Raina had finished runners-up in the recent $10,000 ITF Lucknow Futures tennis tournament in Lucknow, losing to Japan’s Emi Mutaguchi.
The Lucknow event was Ankita’s fourth consecutive ITF Futures final.
The national grasscourt champion had clinched the Chennai Futures a week before the Lucknow tourney.
The Gujarat girl, who is now based in Pune, had also finished runners-up in the two ITF Futures tourneys in Hyderabad last March. Her impressive run saw jump 26 spots in the WTA rankings to be placed 463 – thus becoming the highest ranked women’s singles player in the country overtaking Rushika Sunkara, who is now placed 481st.
