Rupesh and Ranjeet to clash in ITF Futures quarters

New Delhi: Rupesh Roy and national champion Ranjeet Virali Murugesan scored hard earned victories to set up the singles quarterfinal clash of the USD 10,000 ITF men`s Futures event here today. Eighth seed Rupesh had a roller-coaster second round match against Vijayant Malik, who fought hard but ran out of steam to lose 7-6(1), 2-6, 1-6 in the hard court event. Ranjeet overcame a second set lapse to beat Phillipines` wild card Johnny Arcilla 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-0 in his second round clash. Former National champion Ashutosh Singh and fifth seed Rohan Gajjar also advanced when their rivals retired mid-way. Ashutosh was leading 6-4, 2-0 against Max Jones when the Briton opted out of contest. Rohan advanced when his unseeded opponent Rohan Gide threw in towel while trailing 1-5 in the first set. Another Indian advancing to the next stage was lucky loser Karunuday Singh, who defeated Korean qualifier Seong-Yoon Chung 6-4, 6-1. He will take on sixth seed Japanese Kento Takeuchi. Second seed Young-Jun Kim of Korea saw off the challenge of Mithun Murali 6-1, 6-4. Meanwhile, Indian wild card J Nedunchezhiyan continued his brilliant run with a hard fought win over Malaysian qualifier Ywe-Ming Si. J Nedunchezhiyan, who had ousted seventh seed Dutch Peter Lucassen, came from behind to score a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) win in his second round. Bureau Report