Indian Tennis Daily

It was a week of the French Open qualifying, with the ATP Volvo Jerusalem Challenger going on alongside in Israel. Interestingly, Saketh Myneni, who chose to play at the Israel Challenger, thinking he would not make the cut for the RG qualies, would have actually made it in due to the unusually high number of withdrawals at the last moment. But he made up for it to an extent, by sealing his Wimbledon qualifying spot owing to a SF showing in Israel.

Summary of results –

Ankita and Ram go down in 1st round of RG qualies –

Ankita Raina went down against the highly touted 15 year old Coco Gauff from the United States, losing a tight 4-6 4-6 contest to the 2018 Junior French Open Champion.

Gauff won the match at the age of 15 years and 2 months becoming the youngest player to win a major match since Martina Hingis at 1995 Australian Open.

Ramkumar Ramanathan, meanwhile, lost to Australia’s Jason Kubler in straight sets, 4-6 4-6.

Saketh makes SF in Jerusalem to seal Wimby qualies spot –

While Saketh would have been ruing his missed opportunity to participate in the Roland Garros qualies, he didn’t let it affect his game at the ATP Volvo Jerusalem Open, where he made the SF, and assured himself of a Wimbledon qualies berth. Saketh will be 223rd in the latest ATP Rankings.

Mukund Sasikumar also made the QF, beating 2nd seeded Aussie John Patrick Smith along the way. He would have faced Saketh in the semis, had he won his QF match against Filip Peliwo from Canada. Mukund will be 283rd in the latest ATP Rankings.

Results –

[R1] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,245) bye
[R1] (14) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,295) bye

[R2] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,245) d. Andrea Vavassori (ITA,402) 7-6 6-3
[R2] (14) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,295) d. Gonzalo Escobar (ECU,323) 6-1 6-4

[R3] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,245) d. Tak Khunn Wang (FRA,321) 6-4 6-4
[R3] (14) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,295) d. (2) John-Patrick Smith (AUS,239) 1-6 6-3 6-3

[QF] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,245) d. Eden Lesham (ISR,478) 6-4 6-3
[QF] (14) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,295) l. (9) Filip Peliwo (CAN,302) 7-6 6-7 2-6

[SF] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,245) l. (9) Filip Peliwo (CAN,302) 3-6 1-6

Anirudh/Niki are RU in doubles at ITF $15K Uganda-

The pair of Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha and Anirudh Chandrasekhar finished runners-up in the doubles event at ITF $15K Uganda Futures in Kampala.

65 year old Narahari Kadekar participated in the ITF $15K Uganda Futures qualifying, showing us that it’s never too late. Mr. Kadekar started playing Tennis at the age of 56, and represents on the ITF Seniors tour as well, where he has a highest ranking of 934 in the world. More power to you, Sir!