Shokeen, Sipaeya advance in ITF

Indian youngsters Vivek Shokeen and Sunil Kumar Sipaeya advanced to the second round of USD 10,000 ITF grass court event in Lahore.

Seventh seed Shokeen rallied to beat Igor Shelyakin of Uzbekistan 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-2 while third seed Sipaeya overcame a stiff resistance from Gleb Alekseenko of Ukraine 7-6 (3) 7-5.

National Champion Ashutosh Singh, who had made a surprising first round exit in singles event, reached the doubles semifinal partnering compatriot Divij Sharan.

The second seeded Indian pair defeated the English duo of Kyle Brassington and Andrew Fitzpatrick 4-6, 6-3, 10-4.

Sipaeya also booked a last four berth in the doubles event pairing with Aqeel Khan of Pakistan, as the Indo-Pak pair shocked third seed Taipei pair of Hsin-Han Lee and Hsien-Yin Peng  7-6(5), 7-5.