Chennai, Feb 5 (IANS): Somdev Devvarman along with Yuki Bhambri, Saketh Myneni and Sanam Singh entered the singles quarter-finals in the Shriram Capital PL Reddy Memorial ATP Challenger tennis tournament here Wednesday.
Top seed Devvarman outlasted qualifier Michael Venus of New Zealand in three sets lasting almost three hours after losing the first while Myneni put out eighth seeded Italian Thomas Fabbiano 6-3, 6-2, Bhambri notched a fluent 6-2, 6-1 win over Gerard Granollers from Spain and qualifier Sanam Singh eliminated Wild Card N Sriram Balaji 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (1).
The tall and well-built Venus unleashed whippy forehands on both flanks while Devvarman stoutly held in his characteristic way.
An energetic display of aggressive volleying coupled with strong serve in the tiebreaker sealed the first set in Venus’ favour. But then Venus, who had played three rounds of qualifying and a three-set match earlier was exhausted and Devvarman ran away with the second set 6-0 and took an upper hand in the third right away.
Venus did try valiantly to catch up, but Devvarman served effectively to save the breakpoints against him and emerged creditable winner.
Bhambri made short work of Granollers in quick time and his fellow-Davis Cupper Myneni followed suit to put out Fabbiano.
The results:
Singles (2nd round): 1-Somdev Devvarman bt Q-Michael Venus (NZL) 6-7 (4), 6-0, 6-3; Jordi Samper-Montana (ESP) bt Steven Diez (CAN) 6-3, 3-1 ret; Lucas Pouille (FRA) bt 4-Illya Marchenko (UKR) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; 7-Yuki Bhambri bt Gerard Granollers (ESP) 6-2, 6-1; Saketh Myneni bt 8-Thomas Fabbiano (ITA) 6-3, 6-2; Alexander Kudryavtsev (RUS) bt Blaz Rola (SLO) 6-4, 6-1; Q-Sanam Singh bt WC-N Sriram Balaji 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (1); 2-Evgeny Donskoy (RUS) bt Rui Machado (POR) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (0).
Doubles: Steven Diez (CAN) / Daniel Munoz-De La Nava (ESP) bt Ilija Bozoljac (SRB) / Somdev Devvarman 6-4, 6-7 (4), 10-3; 4-Gerard Granollers (ESP) / Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP) bt Victor Baluda (RUS) / Alexander Kudryavtsev (RUS) 4-6, 6-3, 10-8; Ti Chen (TPE) / Marek Semjan (SVK) bt WC-Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan / Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-3, 6-4; Hsien-Yin Peng (TPE) / Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE) bt WC-Saketh Myneni / Sanam Singh 2-6, 6-4, 12-10; 2-Yuki Bhambri / Michael Venus (NZL) bt Ruan Roelofse (RSA) / Izak Van Der Merwe (RSA) 6-3, 6-3.