Tennis roundup: Sania Mirza ousted in Wuhan, Prajnesh Gunneswaran reaches semis in Tiburon

Mixed results continued to be the theme for Indian tennis players across the various rungs of the professional tennis circuit. While several players made it to the business end of some tournaments, a few others faltered.

Here’s a quick recap of Friday’s results featuring Indian players in action:

Wuhan Open

The third-seeded Indo-Chinese team of Sania Mirza and Shuai Peng lost in the semi-finals of the Women’s Tennis Association Premier 5 tournament. The top-seeded team of Martina Hingis and Yung-Jan Chan defeated Mirza and Peng in straight sets 7-6(5), 6-4.

While not much separated the two teams, Hingis and Chan were able to outlast their opponents at crucial points. Both teams traded breaks in the first set before the Swiss-Taiwanese team clinched the set in a nervy tie-break 7-5. The second set also had an exchange of service break, before Hingis and Chan broke for the second time to secure the win after an hour and 48 minutes of play.

Tiburon Challenger

Prajnesh Gunneswaran, the last Indian player remaining at the Association of Tennis Professionals’ Tiburon Challenger made it to the penultimate round of the $100,000 tournament. Gunneswaran defeated Canadian Frank Dancevic 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

The Indian No 3 was dominant on his serve and returns – especially on second serves – which put Dancevic on the backfoot. Gunneswaran won 81% points off his first serves to Dancevic’s 73% and 66% points off his second serves to the Canadian’s 42%. He also converted three break points, while saving four break points on his own serve.

In Saturday’s semi-final, the world No 242 will take on the 165th ranked Briton Cameron Norrie.

ITF Women’s Circuit

$25,000 Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA

Karman Kaur Thandi’s run in Stillwater came to an end in the quarter-finals.

The Indian suffered a 6-0, 6-0 defeat at the hands of the second seed Marie Bouzkova of Czech Republic. Thandi could only win 25% of her first serve points to Bouzkova’s staggering 86% and only a meagre 14% points off her second serves to Bouzkova’s 78%. Bouzkova, who didn’t face a single break point throughout the 64-minute duration of the match, went on to convert six of the 10 break points that she earned on Thandi’s serve.

$15,000 Hua Hin, Thailand

In Hua Hin, Thailand, Pranjala Yadlapalli succumbed to a defeat in the semi-finals. The Indian, who had come through the qualifiers, lost in straight sets to the second-seeded American Jacqueline Cako, 6-1, 6-4.

$15,000 Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt

Lastly, in Sharm el-Sheik, Kanika Vaidya reached the women’s singles semi-final and the women’s doubles semi-final.

In her singles quarter-final against Dane Emilie Francati, Vaidya dropped the first set but eventually prevailed 2-6, 6-2, 6-1. In Saturday’s semi-final, she will take on the Taiwanese second-seed Pei-Chi Lee, with whom she has teamed up this week in doubles.

Vaidya and Lee, the top-seeds in the draw, posted a quickfire 6-1, 6-0 win over the Guatemalan team of Melissa Morales and Kristen-Andreea Weedon. In the final to be played on Saturday, Vaidya and Lee will face the unseeded Taiwanese pair of Pei Hsuan Chen and Fang-Hsien Wu.