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Arjun at least got a lucky break in doubles R1 with a walkover from his seeded opponents.

Yes, tough loss for Arjun, and he did have two match points in the 2nd set tie-break at 6-4 and another match-point at 5-4 40-30* on his opponent's serve....

Check the momentum tab at this link... http://itfprocircuit.tennis-live-scores ... A-08B-2017

Thanks Prashanth for sharing this link ... So missed opportunity for Arjun.

VSP had an upset win today but Sasi lost his match against a lower ranked player.

[R2] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,588) d. (3) Ti Chen (TPE,320) 63 36 63

[R2] (7) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,429) l. Cheng-Yu Yu (TPE,657) 26 76(2) 57

Next,

[QF] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,588) vs. Cheng-Yu Yu (TPE,657)

Sid Rawat lost the first set 36 against top seed Duck Hee Lee but won the second 75 and was down a break 2-3 in the second when the match was interrupted by rain. This match and match between Prajnesh and Manish will be completed tomorrow as also the QF's.

Excellent work by VSP. Is it just me or has there been a noticeable increase in the frequency of upsets pulled by Indians these days? There are some guys who are not in form and getting upset too, like Sasi lately, but that was always there among our players.

Yes, their confidence seems to have gone up after good show in Indian challengers. Last week Arjun beat top 2 seeds on the way to title.Today VSP beats top 300 level player here and Vishnu does the same in China. Siddharth Rawat is also giving a close fight to the top seed here. Hope he can turn it around in third set tomorrow.

You're right about Sid's match too. That was what really surprised me. Some of them must be starting to feel a certain level of confidence that they can also do it. I think confidence does wonders in tennis - not just in winning, but also in improving one's game. If you have the confidence to judiciously try some of your stronger but lesser-percentage shots at game time, they become higher-percentage shots and part of your arsenal - and you can improve quite fast. And if you are the focused and hardworking type, that improvement can stay with you and make you even better. It's like a light bulb coming on. For a very long time, we didn't see that happen among Indian players despite talent, but we saw it with Sania, Somdev, etc, and later with RamK, Sumit, etc. The quick spurts in performance. I notice a bit of it happening at various levels with others too, these days.

^^ Funny that I just found Sumit saying quite the same thing in the interview after the Yuki match, for which saniapower posted a youtube link in the Sumit thread. About how one week can change things. And about going for his deep shots and angles, and being smart in it, in the match against Yuki. As he found later, the shots didn't fall 100% of the time in the final like it did in the SF (and there was a patch of a few games where it caused him to drop the 2nd set) but he found that it worked enough times for him to win it. That is how it goes, I suppose.

Siddarth Rawat goes down fighting to Duck He lee in a close match , Vital break by the Korean in the 8th game of the final set helped him to seal the match , Although he saved couple of match points it wasn't enough and went down fighting 3-6,7-5,4-6 . Close but no Cigar

Tough luck for Sid, but great to see his fight — and a lovely upset win over Ti Chen for VSP.

Another rain affected day today as only Sid's match got completed. Prajnesh's second round match against Manish too could not be completed - Prajnesh leading 64 12 there. VSP has taken the first 76(4) against Taiwanese player.

It seems 2 remaining second round matches ( including Prajnesh-Manish) will be completed tomorrow along with all the quarter finals with semi finals and finals on Saturday.

Looks like Prajnesh will have 1-2 hard days in his bid to make it to AO qualies draw.

VSP solidified the upset with a straight sets win to the reach the semis. Prajnesh completed his match against Sureshkumar with no hiccups and will play against Kento Takuechi today in the QFs.

Yes VSP seems to be finding that elusive form to set up a SF clash with the top seed Duk He lee or the 8th seed Australian Andrew Harris and the way he has been playing so far , definitely wont rule out a upset win over which ever player he faces.( Right Now DHL & Harris are 1 set all and on serve in the final set.

Prajnesh takes care of the junior and sterner test awaits him against the 6th seed Japanese

Yes, another good win for VSP.

[QF] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,588) d. Cheng-Yu Yu (TPE,657) 76(4) 64

[R2] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,256) d. (Q) Manish Sureshkumar (IND,1188) 64 64

Good performance by 18 year old Manish Sureshkumar in last 2 weeks. We should keep an eye on him next year to see how he progresses.

Later today,

[QF] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,256) vs. (6) Kento Takeuchi (JPN,605)

Prajnesh thru to the SF as well.

[QF] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,256) d. (6) Kento Takeuchi (JPN,605) 62 64

Next,

[SF] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,588) vs. (1) Duck Hee Lee (KOR,217)

[SF] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,256) vs. Renta Tokuda (JPN,603)

Tokuda won the title here last week. So, he is the man in form with 8 straight wins behind him. Tough matches for both.

Also with 8 points this week, Prajnesh should move up to 246-247 in the live rankings. So, he has a very bright chance of making it to AO qualies whatever happens now this week.

He will need to win at least a match (if not two) to just make it sure and try to get into initial entry list itself and not having to wait for withdrawals.