DAY 4: FUTURES TENNIS TOURNEY

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Top-ranked Saketh Myneni of India powers in a serve to opponent Hiromasa Oku of Japan in Round 2 singles action of the 2013 Lacoste GVB Futures tennis tournament at the Hilton Guam Resort & Spa tennis courts. Myneni defeated Oku, 6-1, 6-4, to advance to the quarterfinals. (courtesy photo)

PRESS RELEASE – Top-seeded Saketh Myneni of India needed less than one hour to send Japan’s Hiromasa Oku packing from the singles bracket in Day 4 action of the 2013 Lacoste GVB Futures tennis tournament at the Hilton Guam Resort & Spa tennis courts.

The Myneni-Oku official 6-1, 6-4 game time was 54 minutes with Myneni notching two aces coupled with Oku errors in the final game to end the match. The 25-year-old is enjoying a very successful year, winning the Thailand F2 Futures last week, as well as the India F4 and F5 Futures last month. In nine tournaments this year, Myneni, so far is sporting a 20-5 win-loss record in singles.

“I have good confidence going into my games here, as the last couple of weeks I’ve been playing well,” Myneni said. “Here in Guam, it’s a completely different surface we’re playing on, as well as a different ball. These first few games, I’ve been cautious getting accustomed to the new conditions and knowing my limits.

“After this tournament, I’ll rest up a bit and then train more. I’ll also try to get into higher-level Challenger tournaments,” added the 2010 alumnus of the University of Alabama, who currently is ranked No. 302 in the world according to the ATP Tour Web site.

Before getting past Oku to reach the quarterfinals, Myneni defeated 2011 finalist Jun Ito of Japan. Myneni will next face No. 6 Gengo Kikuchi of Japan Friday on Court 1 after the first 10 a.m. match between No. 2 Yasutaka Uchiyama and No. 5 Yuichi Ito. Kikuchi also had a relatively quick game, advancing to the quarterfinals after defeating India’s Neishit Vakil 6-1, 6-0.

In other singles matches of the day, No. 4 Takuto Niki advanced to the quarterfinals after Australia’s Brendan Moore retired. The score was 6-2, 2-0 in favor of Niki. In one of the most intense singles match ups of the day, No. 7 Bumpei Sato prevailed over the United States Patrick Davidson 6-4, 7-6(6). Facing triple set point in the second set tiebreaker, Sato capitalized on a Davidson double fault and two Davidson errors to get back in the set at 6-6. After the pair switched sides, Sato earned match point after Davidson mishandled his serve. The pair engaged in a short rally in the next point until Davidson netted his forehand return to concede the match to his Japanese opponent.

In doubles action, No. 1 seeded Niki and Ito defeated compatriots Junn Mitsuhashi and Masato Shiga 6-3, 6-0 in the lone game that was postponed due to Wednesday’s delays caused by inclement weather. In the day’s other doubles match, No. 2 Sato and Uchiyama played a close match against No. 4 Oku and Katsuki Nagao to punch the first ticket to the doubles final. The winning duo will await the winners of the other semifinal between Niki/Ito and No. 3 Kikuchi and Shunrou Takeshima, scheduled for Friday not before 1:30 p.m.

Court 2 action Friday begins at 10 a.m. with Niki facing Sato, followed by No. 8 Woong-Sun Jun of Korea against the bracket’s only unseeded player, Masato Shiga of Japan.

The tournament’s updated order of play and drawsheets are available for viewing or download from facebook.com/GuamFutures. Updates are also available by following @GuamFutures on Twitter.

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