Five Indian players, including Olympian Vishnu Vardhan made it to the final qualifying round of the Chennai Open ATP Challenger tournament on Saturday.
The fourth-seeded Vishnu Vardhan, ranked 512 currently, made short work of compatriot Ramakrishnan Rangaraju 6-3, 6-0.
He will meet fifth-seed Sidharth Rawat for a spot in the main draw. Rawat routed fellow Indian Shahbaaz Khan conceding only three games.
Local lad Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam sprung a surprise, beating American Tyler Hochwalt first and then getting the better of eighth-seeded Aryan Goveas 7-6, 4-1. Shanmugam will meet Nikola Cacic of Serbia for a place in the main draw.
Top seed in the qualifiers Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul of Thailand, got past local player Gokul Suresh 6-2, 6-4. Haadin Salim Bava, the seventh-seed, ousted national champion Dalwinder Singh 6-0, 7-6(5).
Yuki Bhambri, who will be the second-seed in the main draw, and other Indians including Sumit Nagal, Prajnesh Guneswaran, Saketh Myneni and Sasikumar Mukund, had an intense practice session.
-Inputs from PTI
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