Paire Pushes On In Chennai

Benoit Paire lost just three of his first service points (23/26) to beat Konstantin Kravchuk 6-3, 6-4 on Tuesday at the Aircel Chennai Open. The fifth-seeded Frenchman next faces home hope Yuki Bhambri, a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Indian compatriot Ramkumar Ramanathan.

Seventh seed Mikhail Youzhny, who lifted the trophy in 2008 (d. Nadal), proved too strong for wild card Saketh Myneni, 6-4, 6-3. He will next face Renzo Olivo, a 7-6(3), 6-2 victor over wild card Casper Ruud.

Yen-Hsun Lu, the eighth seed, topped Radu Albot 6-2, 6-1 to set a second-round meeting with NextGen’s Daniil Medvedev. Aljaz Bedene, who reached his first ATP World Tour final as a qualifier in Chennai two years ago (l. to Wawrinka), will play fourth seed Martin Klizan after he saved all five break points he faced in recording his third straight win over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in a 6-3, 6-3 victory.

In doubles, James Cerretani and Philipp Oswald upset top seeds Jonathan Erlich and Scott Lipsky 6-4, 1-6, 10-8 to reach the quarter-finals.