It was an eventful week for our boys and girls around the world, as they continued their quests to climb up the rungs on the ATP, WTA and ITF Tennis ladders. Here’s a summary –
Sumit makes his first Challenger SF since November 2017
After enduring tough losses in the first two weeks of his 3-week American sojourn, Sumit showed teeth to make the SF at the ATP Savannah Challenger in Georgia.
His run also included a revenge win against 3rd seeded Corentin Moutet, whom he had lost to last week in Tallahassee. Sumit had lost that match from 5-2 down in the deciding set. His run ended at the hands of 108th ranked and 2nd seeded Paolo Lorenzi from Italy, in three tough sets.
He will now be ranked around 303 in the ATP Rankings, and will take part in the ATP Rome Challenger in Italy this week.
Summary of results –
[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,332) d. Juan Pablo Varillas (PER,347) 6-7(3) 6-2 7-5
[R2] Sumit Nagal (IND,332) d. (8) Mats Moraing (GER,219) 6-1 4-2 retd.
[R3] Sumit Nagal (IND,332) d. (WC) Sebastian Korda (USA,408) 6-3 7-6(0)
[QF] Sumit Nagal (IND,332) d. (3) Contantin Moutet (FRA,126) 6-4 7-5
[SF] Sumit Nagal (IND,332) l. (2) Paolo Lorenzi (ITA,108) 4-6 6-4 2-6
Divij/Demoliner finish runners-up at ATP 250 BMW Open Munich
Divij Sharan and his Brazilian partner, Marcelo Demoliner, had a great run at the clay courts in Munich, beating solid teams along the way, including top seeds Bopanna/Inglot in the 1st round.
With this run, Divij pips Rohan Bopanna to be ranked India’s number one doubles player on the ATP Rankings at 41.
Prajnesh, who’s carrying a shoulder niggle, lost in the final qualifying round to Denis Istomin in the same event.
Summary of Results –
[R1] Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)/ Divij Sharan (IND) d. (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Dominic Inglot (GBR) 63 36 12-10
[QF] Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)/ Divij Sharan (IND) d. Kevin Krawietz (GER)/ Andreas Mies (GER) 4-6 6-3 10-8
[SF] Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)/ Divij Sharan (IND) d. Philipp Oswald (AUT)/ Mate Pavic (CRO) 6-3 3-6 10-4
[F] Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l.Frederik Nielsen (DEN)/ Tim Puetz (GER) 4-6 2-6
Jennifer Luikhan makes her first ITF Futures Final
After a couple of years of grinding on the ITF tour, Jenny’s efforts finally bore fruit, as she made the final of both the singles and the doubles events in Antalya, Turkey.
Rutuja lifts doubles title at ITF W25 Namangan, Uzbekistan
Rutuja Bhosale and Eudice Chong won the doubles title at the ITF W25 event in Namangan, Uzbekistan.
Rutuja had a tough loss in the QF in singles against her doubles partner itself, losing 6-1 5-7 1-6.
VSP/Altuna with RU finish in Italy
N.Vijay Sundar Prashanth and partner Tuna Altuna from Turkey finished runners-up at the ITF $25,000 Santa Margherita Di Paula event in Italy.
They lost the finals 6-3 4-6 0-10 to the pair of Alexander Merino and Manuel Pena Lopez.
