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Sunil Kumar overcomes Tushar Liberhan
NEW DELHI: Sunil Kumar overcame an indifferent start as he warded off a stiff challenge from Tushar Liberhan for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory in the pre-quarterfinals of the PNB $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Wednesday.
Still struggling to find his rhythm, the 25-year-old left-hander managed to raise his game when it mattered to bounce back from being 2-4 down in the second set after having lost the first.
Even in the decider, it was the steady-stroking Liberhan who called the shots at 3-1, but Sunil clawed his way back and broke him in the tenth to seal the match. The fourth-seeded Sunil will face the sixth-seeded Hsin-Han Lee of Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals.
Three other Indians will also have foreign opponents to counter in the quarterfinals. Prajnesh Gunneswaran continued his good run by beating Ronak Manuja in straight sets. He will have his task cut out against the second-seeded Yuichi Sugita of Japan on the morrow. Rupesh Roy had little difficulty in stopping qualifier Abhijeet Tiwari.
The results (Indians unless specified):
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Peter Gojowczyk (Ger) bt Vishnu Vardhan 6-4, 6-4; Rupesh Roy bt Abhijeet Tiwari 6-3, 6-4; Sunil Kumar bt Tushar Liberhan 3-6, 6-4, 6-4; Hsin-Han Lee (Tpe) b Yasir Khan (Pak) 6-2, 6-3; Aqeel Khan (Pak) bt N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth 6-2, 6-4; P.C. Vignesh bt V.M. Ranjeet 7-6(3), 4-6, 3-2 (retired): Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt Ronak Manuja 6-4, 6-2; Yuichi Sugita (Jpn) bt Nikunj Siwach 6-3, 6-3.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Ashutosh Singh & Sunil Kumar bt Vaja Uzakov (Uzb) & Rahil Makharia 6-1, 6-1; Peter Gojowczyk (Ger) & Yuichi Sugita (Jpn) bt Vijayant Malik & Ronak Manuja 6-1, 6-3; Mithun Murali & Yannick Nelord bt N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth & V.M. Ranjeet 6-4, 6-3; Divij Sharan & Vishnu Vardhan bt Rohan Gajjar & Tushar Liberhan 7-5, 6-2.
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