Suresh, Dhamne fall in quarterfinals; top seeds Balaji-Oberleitner reach doubles semifinals

Bengaluru, Jan 8 (PTI) The Indian singles contingent had a tough day at the Bengaluru Open as Dhakshineswar Suresh and Manas Dhamne suffered defeats in the quarterfinals while doubles top seeds Sriram Balaji and Neil Oberleitner advanced to the semifinals.

France’s Matteo Martineau produced a composed and well-rounded display to halt 18-year-old wildcard Dhamne’s run.

The 26-year-old struck early by breaking serve in the opening set and then relied on his solid baseline game to protect the advantage, fending off multiple break opportunities with some spectacular defence.

Dhamne, playing in his first ATP Challenger quarter-final, raised his level in the second set and pushed the contest into a tie-break, but Martineau’s dominance at the net proved decisive.

He won all 11 of his points at the net and saved all five break points he faced to close out the match in straight sets.

Later in the day, Suresh endured a difficult outing against second seed Harold Mayot, struggling with both form and fitness. The 25-year-old finished with only three aces and hit four double faults and was visibly hampered by a right leg issue.

Despite the challenges, Suresh showed resilience midway through the first set, pushing Mayot hard and forcing a tie-break, which the Frenchman won.

In the second set, Suresh was unable to sustain the intensity, allowing Mayot to capitalise and secure a straight-sets win.

Meanwhile, top seed Pedro Martinez and sixth seed Timofey Skatov registered straight forward victories to advance to the last four.

In the doubles quarter-finals, top seeds Balaji and Oberleitner provided some cheer for the local fans with a 6-7, 6-4, 10-6 win over Petr Bar Biryukov and Grigoriy Lomakin.

Third seeds Arthur Reymond and Luca Sanchez defeated Adil Kalyanpur and Saketh Myneni, while fourth seeds Nicolas Barrientos and Benjamin Kittay prevailed over SD Prajwal Dev and Nitin Kumar Sinha to knock the other Indian pairings out of the Bengaluru Open.

Results: Singles Quarterfinals 1-Pedro Martinez (ESP) bt Cedrik-Marcel Stebe (GER) 6-2, 6-0; 6-Timofey Skatov (KAZ) bt Jonas Forejtek (CZE) 6-4, 6-2; Matteo Martineau (FRA) bt Manas Dhamne (IND) 6-4, 7-6(5); 2-Harold Mayot (FRA) bt Dhakshineswar Suresh (IND) 7-6(5), 6-2 Doubles Quarterfinals 3-Arthur Reymond/ Luca Sanchez (FRA) bt Adil Kalyanpur/Saketh Myneni (IND) 5-7, 6-4, 10-8; Nicolas Barrientos (COL)/ Benjamin Kittay (USA) bt SD Prajwal Dev/ Nitin Kumar Sinha (IND) 6-7(3), 6-3, 10-8; 1-Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Neil Oberleitner (AUT) bt Petr Bar Biryukov/ Grigoriy Lomakin (KAZ) 6-7 (6), 6-4, 10-6. PTI BS ATK