Sumit Nagal's dream of defending his Bengaluru Open title went up in smoke after he was knocked out in the quarterfinals of the USD 1,50,000 ATP Challenger event by compatriot Saketh Myneni here Thursday. Nagal lost in straight sets 4-6 4-6 to Myneni, a wild card entrant. Joining Myneni in the semifinals was fourth seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who did not have to break a sweat to get the better of Sasi Kumar Mukund, who had to withdraw owing to a severe back pain after losing three service points he managed on the day.

In the semifinals, Myneni will clash with Aleksandr Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan, who won 6-4 6-2 over Frederico Ferreira Silva of Portugal while Gunneswaran will meet Canadian Brayden Schnur. Schnur beat Cem Ilkel of Turkey 6-3 6-4 in another quarterfinal encounter. Myneni and Nagal played contrasting tennis. While the former waited for opportunities to catch his opponent on the wrong foot, the latter as usual played with aggression, hitting long and deep shots.