CHENNAi: Sumit Nagal of India won his match against British player Jay Clarke on Friday by scores of 6-1 6-4 to advance to the singles quarterfinal of the Chennai Open ATP Challenger competition. Alboran defeated Japan's Yasutaka Uchiyama 6-3 6-4 in one hour and 25 minutes, edging out top seed Chun-Hsin Tseng in the process.
The Nagal-Clarke match saw the Indian dominate the first set completely. Serving superbly, the 25- year-old Indian kept the British player off balance with precise hitting. He never faced a break point and landed 81 per cent of his first serves to pile the pressure on Clarke to break him thrice. In the second game, Nagal faced some challenge from Clarke but a single service break enabled him to grab the set and the match.
Meanwhile, Max Purcell beat the No.2 seed James Duckworth 6-4 4-6 6-4 in a battle of Australians to set up a clash against compatriot Dane Sweeny in the semifinal.In the doubles section, Sebastian Ofner and Nino Serdarusic shocked top seeds N Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Neduchezhiyan 4-6 7-6 10-4 in the semifinals.India’s Arjun Khade teamed up with Clarke to beat the Czech team of Petr Nouza and Andrew Paulson 7-5 4-6 10-8. Results: Singles (Quarterfinals): Nicolas Moreno De Alboran (USA) beat Yasutaka Uchiyama (Japan) 6-3 6-4; Sumit Nagal beat Jay Clarke 6-1 6-4; Dane Sweeny (Australia) beat Arthur Cazaux (France) 6-7 7-6 6-3; Max Purcell beat James Duckworth (Australia) 6-4 4-6 6-4.