Asian Games 2014: Sanam Singh, Yuki Bhambri reach quarterfinals; Ankita Raina bows out

Sanam Singh 

Incheon, Sep 26 (IANS) India's Yuki Bhambri and Sanam Singh reached the men's singles quarterfinals while compatriot Ankita Raina was ousted in the pre-quarterfinals of the women's singles tennis competition at the 17th Asian Games here Friday.

Bhambri, the highest seeded Indian in Incheon, eased to a 6-3, 6-3 straight-set win over 13th seed, Christopher Benjamin Rungkat of Indonesia in an hour and 30 minutes in the third round match at the Yeorumul Tennis Courts.

The fourth seeded Indian took the first set in 40 minutes and registered a similar scoreline win in the second, taking eight minutes more.

Bhambri will face the winner of the pre-quarters match between seventh seeded Chinese Ze Zhang and ninth seed Danai Udomchoke of Thailand.

Meanwhile, Ankita's participation in the Incheon Games came to an end after she lost 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 to seventh seed Eri Hozumi of Japan in an hour and 55 minutes in their women's pre-quarters match.

The 12th seeded Indian started off slowly and was made to pay dearly as the Japanese wrapped up the first set 6-2 in just 29 minutes.

Ankita came back strongly to level the match with a 6-4 second sets win in 32 minutes to send the tie to the decider.

In the final set, Ankita battled hard, but Hozumi was clinical finishing the set 6-1 in 40 minutes.

Earlier, Sanam Singh, staged a remarkable comeback to beat sixth-seeded South Korean Hyeon Chung 7-5, 6-1 in an hour and 24 minutes in their third round match.

In a gruelling first set, Sanam trailed Hyeon, who is ranked more than 200 places above the Indian in the ATP rankings, 1-4 but fought back brilliantly to take the first set 7-5 in 54 minutes.

Sanam carried forward that momentum into the second giving his South Korean opponent no chance to find any rhythm.

The Indian breezed past Hyeon 6-1 in just 29 minutes to seal his berth in the next round.

Sanam could possibly face top seed Yen-Hsun Lu in the quarters provided the Chinese Taipei player wins his third round match.