Press Release
Pune , November 12 : India’s 20 year old Manish Sureshkumar showed guts and fighting capabilities to upset sixteenth seeded Rio Noguchi of Japan and move into the pre quarterfinals of the singles event at the KPIT MSLTA Challenger a Challenger 80 series event which got under way at the MSLTA School of tennis courts in the Mhalunge Balewadi Sports Complex.
On a day where 10 other Indians were on action the wiry 20 year lad from Chennai currently ranked 748 created the first upset of the event taking out Japanese 408th ranked Rio Noguchi 6-3,7-6(4) in a 1 hour 36 minute thrilling match.
Manish took the first set rather easily at 6-3, but Noguchi also a 20 year old raced to a 4-2 lead in the second set and looked to finish the set and level score, but the young Indian showed great spirit to claw back and level scores to 4-4 , and then race to 6-5 . But the Japanese broke Manish in the 12th game to force a tiebreak . Manish played strongly in the tie break and hit two great forehand winners to wrap the tiebreak and the match and ensure 7 ATP points for making it to round 3.
Four other Indian players made it to the second round to ensure that 13 Indians players made it to the second round and earned themselves ATP points, a record of sorts for Indian tennis
Local Wildcard and Maharashtra player
Dhruv Sunish played consistently to register a credible 7-6(3) 6-2 win over Japanese Sumizawa Daisuke ranked 114 places higher in late night match played yesterday. Qualifier Dalwinder Singh proved strong for country mate Kunal Anand winning 6-3, 6-4. Kaza Vinayak Sharma who made it to the main draw as an Alternate rode his luck to conquer qualifier and Pune player Tejas Chaukulkar 7-6(1), 6-7(5), 6-4 in the longest match of the day lasting 2 hours and 16 minutes.
Siddarth Rawat played solid tennis to oust local favourite Arjun Kadhe 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in 1 hour 40 minutes. Both players matched each other but a shoulder injury halted Arjun’s progress. Confident Rawat broke Arjun in the 4th game of the third set to ensure a win and move into the second round.
Two other Indian players in action went down. Greece’s Markos Kalovelonis out hit N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth 6-2 6-4 while Tunisian Aziz Dougaz stopped a late comeback from up and coming Adil Kalyanpur ending his challenge 6-3, 7-6(3)
Mens Singles Second Round
[5] Jay Clarke (GBR) bt Calvin Hemery (FRA) 6-4,6-4
Manish Sureshkumar (IND) bt [16] Rio. Noguchi (JPN) 6-3,7-6(4)
[11] Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN) bt Roman Blokhin (RUS) 6-3,6-0
First Round
Dhruv Sunish bt Sumizawa Daisuke (Jpn) 7-6(3)6-2
Markos Kalovelonis (GRE) bt N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) 6-2,6-4
[Q] Dalwinder Singh (IND) bt Kunal Anand (IND) 6-3,6-4
Ergi Kirkin (TUR) bt David Pichler (AUT)1-6,7-5,6-2
Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND) bt [Q] Tejas Chaukulkar (IND) 7-6(1),6-7(5),6-4
Aziz Dougaz (TUN) bt Adil Kalyanpur (IND 6-3,7-6(3)
Siddarth. Rawat (IND) bt Arjun Kadhe (IND) 6-2,3-6,6-3
Doubles (First Round)
4] Brydan. Klein (GBR) / N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) bt [WC] Aryan Goveas (IND) / Dhruv Sunish (IND) 6-2,6-1
Steven Diez (CAN) / Roberto Ortega-Olmedo (ESP) bt Cem Ilkel (TUR) / Ergi. Kirkin (TUR) 6-2,6-2
Aziz. Dougaz (TUN) / Calvin Hemery (FRA) bt [WC] David Marrero (ESP) / Dhruv Mulye (USA) 6-2,7-5
Bogdan Bobrov (RUS) / Ivan Nedelko (RUS) bt Markos Kalovelonis (GRE) / Timur Khabibulin (KAZ) 6-4,6-7(5),10-3
