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Ho Chi Minh City: India’s Saketh Myneni remained on course for his second successive final on the ATP Challenger Tour after eking out a hard-fought win over Japan’s Yasutaka Uchiyama in the Vietnam Open, here on Thursday.
The fourth seed Indian beat his rival 6-4 4-6 6-1 after battling hard for one hour and 49 minutes in the pre-quarterfinals of the USD 50,000 hard court tournament.
It was a tight match and the two players relied on early breaks to split the first two sets.
Saketh broke Uchiyama in the second game and consolidated that with a solid for a 3-0 lead in the decider.
The Japanese could not recover from that early break and Saketh remained solid to close the game in his favour.
Saketh, who is country’s number two singles player at 168, is the only Indian remaining in the event as his doubles partner Sanam Singh lost his second round today against second seed Australian James Duckworth. He lost 1-6 2-6 in mere 46 minutes.
Sanam and Saketh, seeded third, will play their quarterfinal against Italian qualifiers Alessandro Bega and 63 Thomas Fabbiano.
Myneni said he attacked Uchiyama’s serve and that strategy worked.
“The key was staying with him throughout the match and putting him under pressure on his service games,” he told PTI after the match.
