Indian players enjoyed a good day on the ATP Challenger tour as Yuki Bhambri reached the singles semifinals of the Traralgon event in Australia while Somdev Devvarman and Saketh Myneni reached the quarter-finals of the Charlottesville event in the United States.
The 19-year-old Bhambri pipped fourth seed Japanese Tatsuma Ito 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 in the quarterfinal, which lasted one hour and 46 minutes.
The 277-ranked Yuki avenged his last year's defeat in Kyoto against the higher-ranked Japanese, who is 105 places above the Indian in the ranking chart.
Eighth seed Yuki next faces second seed and 138-ranked James Duckworth.
Meanwhile, in the Charlottesville Challenger, second seed Somdev scored an easy 6-2, 6-3 win over Denis Molchanov of Ukraine to progress to the next stage. He is now up against seventh seed American Rhyne Williams.
Joining him in the singles last-eight was Myneni, who brushed aside the challenge of American Chase Buchanan 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 22 minutes. He next faces Jesse Levine of Canada.
However, Somdev's campaign in the doubles competition ended in the quarter-finals. He and Sanam Singh lost 4-6, 2-6 to second seeded Americans Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren.
Image: Yuki Bhambri
