Pune, February 26 – Britain’s Felix Gill held his nerve in a tense battle to defeat India’s top star, Sumit Nagal, 7-6(4), 0-6, 6-3 in a marathon encounter lasting 2 hours and 37 minutes, securing a place in the quarterfinals of the Maha Open ATP Challenger 75 Men's Tennis Championship, played at the Mhalunge Balewadi Tennis Stadium in the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune.
Nagal initially took the lead twice in the first set, breaking Gill on two occasions, but he couldn't maintain his serve, resulting in a closely contested tie-breaker that Gill ultimately won. In the second set, the 300th-ranked Gill dominated, overwhelming Nagal with a bagel (winning all games) in the set. With the score tied at one set apiece, Gill regrouped strongly in the deciding set, securing the crucial break to seal a hard-fought victory and achieve a measure of revenge, as Nagal had previously defeated Gill in Chennai two weeks earlier.
The 8th seed, Edas Butvilas of Lithuania, delivered a clinical performance, defeating qualifier Tung-Lin Wu of Chinese Taipei 6-3, 6-0 in just 58 minutes. Butvilas controlled the baseline exchanges from the start and wrapped up the match decisively, preventing Wu from gaining any rhythm in the second set.
In the biggest upset of the day, Japanese qualifier Masamichi Imamura shocked second seed Jay Clarke of Great Britain 6-2, 6-4 in 1 hour and 19 minutes. Imamura played fearless tennis, capitalizing on crucial break-point opportunities to secure a straight-sets victory.
In the quarterfinals, which will be played on Friday, Indian hopes will rest on local boy and wildcard player, Manas Dhamne, who will face Duje Ajdukovic of Croatia at 3 pm.
Results:
Singles (Round of 16):
Edas Butvilas [8](Lith) bt [Q] Tung-Lin Wu (TPE) 6-3, 6-0; Felix Gill (GBR) bt Sumit Nagal (IND) 7-6(4), 0-6, 6-3; Q-Masamichi Imamura (JPN) bt Jay Clarke[2] 6-2, 6-4;
Doubles (Quarterfinal Round):
[4] Jisung Nam (Kor) / Patrik Niklas-Salminen (Fin) bt Ryuki Matsuda (JPN) / Ilia Simakin 6-3, 6-3;
Yuta Shimizu (JPN) / Seita Watanabe [3] (JPN) bt [WC] Saketh Myneni (IND) / Digvijaypratap Singh (IND) 6-4, 6-4;
Pruchya Isaro (THA) / Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (IND)[2] bt Jay Clarke (GBR) / Michael Geerts (BEL) 1-0, retired.
