Victories for Sanam, Divij-Raja; Myneni ousted

New Delhi: Indian qualifier Sanam Singh brushed aside the challenge of Germany`s Nils Langer even as Saketh Myneni failed to recreate the magic of last week as he bowed of the ATP Challenger event in Knoxville, USA.

Sanam beat his rival 6-1 6-4 to move to the singles pre-quarterfinals of the USD 50,000 hard court event, where he now faces American fifth seed Donald Young. It was Young who ended Myneni`s campaign in the first round with a 6-4 6-2 win in the opening round. Myneni had reached the quarterfinal last week in Charlottesville with a shock win over top seed Tim Smyczek and Chase Buchanan. In the doubles event, Sanam and Myneni, who made the main draw through qualifiers, went down 3-6 4-6 to top seeded Australian pair of Samuel Groth and John-Patrick Smith. Meanwhile, in the Ortisei Challenger event in Italy, top seeded Indian pair of Divij Sharan and Purav Raja made it to the semifinals. They beat Martin Fischer of Austria and Peter Gojowczyk of Germany 7-6(6) 6-2 in the quarter-finals. There was no break of serve in the opening set, which was decided through tie-breaker, in which the Indians prevailed. In the second set Divij and Raja broke their rivals at 3-2 and at 5-2 to easily secure their passage to the last-four stage.