Indian tennis round-up: Rohan Bopanna bows out of China Open, Divij Sharan reaches semi-finals in Kaohsiung

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Rohan Bopanna (left) and Pablo Cuevas in action at the China Open in Beijing on Thursday.

Indian tennis players had mixed fortunes on Thursday with Rohan Bopanna suffering defeat at the China Open while Divij Sharan secured an effortless win at the Kaohsiung Challenger.

Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas went down fighting 5-7, 6(6)-7 to the top seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers in a quarter-final match at the ATP 500 event in Beijing that lasted 1 hour 29 minutes.

Bopanna and Cuevas produced seven aces and had 66% of their first serves in. The top seeds, however, proved to be superior on returns and broke the Indo-Uruguayan pair thrice. Bopanna and Cuevas, in contrast, could secure only two breaks of serve in this tightly-contested match.

Sania Mirza is still in contention at this ATP and WTA combined event. Mirza and Peng Shuai are the third seeds and have reached the quarter-finals, courtesy of a 7-5, 6-2 win over Elise Mertens and Demi Schuurs.

They next face the fifth seeds Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Strycova for a place in the semi-finals.

Sharan and Lipsky are the top seeds

Sharan has teamed up with Scott Lipsky and are the No. 1 seeded team at the $125, 000 Kaohsiung Challenger in Taiwan this week. Lipsky and Sharan needed 50 minutes to notch up a one-sided 6-2, 6-1 win over the teenaged Taipei pair of Yu Hsiou Hsu and Tung-Lin Wu in the quarter-finals.

The Indo-American pair converted five out of their eight break point opportunities and saved the only break point they faced.

They next take on the winner of the quarter-final between the third seeds Jonathan Erlich/Alexander Peya and Cheng-Peng Hsieh/Hsien-Yin Peng.

Nadal reaches quarter-finals in Beijing

Meanwhile, the US Open champion Rafael Nadal extended his winning streak to nine with a 6-3, 6-3 triumph over the World No. 42 Karen Khachanov of Russia in the second round. The Spaniard is looking to win his second title at Beijing and his sixth of the season.

The World No. 1 next meets the sixth seeded John Isner.

In a major upset of the day, 19-year-old Andrey Rublev overcame a set and a break deficit to outlast the seventh seeded Tomas Berdych 1-6, 6-4, 6-1. The Russian, who reached the US Open quarter-finals, set up a last-eight clash with the second seed Alexander Zverev.

Nick Kyrgios will contest the third quarter-final with Steve Darcis while Grigor Dimitrov and Roberto Bautista Agut will feature in the fourth quarter-final.

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