Prajnesh, Myneni-Jeevan win in Jinan Open; Balaji-Vardhan ousted

Top seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran progressed to the pre-quarterfinals of the Jinan Open with a straight-set win over Japanese qualifier Renta Tokuda, here on Wednesday.

Playing his first tournament after losing the US Open first round, the left-handed Indian raced to a 6-2 6-2 win in the second round of the USD 162480 hard court ATP Challenger tournament.

Prajnesh broke his rival four times and saved both the breakpoints he faced in the 63-minute contest.

In the doubles, fourth-seeded Indian pair of Saketh Myneni and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan overcame Japan's Shintaro Imai and Toshihide Matsui 6-4 6-3 in their opening round.

It would have been an all-Indian quarterfinal but Hiroki Moriya and Goncalo Oliveira knocked out N Sriram Balaji and Vishnu Vardhan 3-6 7-6(2) 10-7 in the other first round match in the top-half of the draw.

Now Myneni and Nedunchezhiyan will take on Moriya and Oliveira.

Another Indian in the fray is Divij Sharan, who along with his top-seeded partner Mathew Ebden had prevailed 6-2 6-7(6) 11-9 over Steven Diez and Enrique Lopez Perez on Tuesday.

Sasi Kumar Mukund, who had reached the final last week in Baotou, had made a first round exit with a 3-6 3-6 defeat against Shuichi Sekiguchi.