Indian Tennis Daily

ATP/ WTA Tour

Sania Mirza made it to the final of WTA Charslton before losing in a close tie break.

At WTA 250 , Charelston, USA

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,50) / Kirsten Flipkens (BEL,315) d. Leylah Farnabdez (CAN,22) / Ingrid Neel (USA,78) 63 76(2)
[R2] Sania Mirza (IND,50) / Kirsten Flipkens (BEL,315) d. (7) Demi Schurrs (NED,16) / Desirae Krawczyk (USA,21) 62 64
[QF] Sania Mirza (IND,50) / Kirsten Flipkens (BEL,315) l. Zaoxuan Yang (CHN,34) / Ekatarina Alexandrova (RUS,54) 36 67(4)

[SF] Sania Mirza (IND,50) / Kirsten Flipkens (BEL,315) d. (1) Caroline Dolehide (USA,24) / Shuai Zhang (CHN,7)

[F] Sania Mirza (IND,50) / Kirsten Flipkens (BEL,315) l. (4) Andreja Klepac (SLO,13) / Magda Linnete (POL,36)

ATP Challenger Tour

Yuki and Saketh made their way to Ecuador to play together on challenger tour and won their first challenger title together. This is 10^th challenger doubles title for Saketh all with different Indian partners – ( 4 with Sanam Singh, 1 Divij, 1 with Jeevan, 1 with Vijay Sunder Prashanth, 1 with Arjun Kadhe, 1 with Ramkumar and now 1 with Yuki)  and 7^th challenger doubles title for Yuki ( 2 with Divij, 1 with Mahesh Bhupati, 1 with Saketh and 3 with foreign partners).

Of course, Saketh has had 2 challenger singles title to his name while Yuki has as 7 singles titles.

These are their results this week-

At Salinas Challenger 80, Ecuador (Hard)

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND) / Saketh Myneni (ND) d. (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) / Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) 6-3 7-6
[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND) / Saketh Myneni (IND) d. Benjamin Lock (ZIM) / Courteny John Lock (ZIM) 6-3 6-4
[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND) / Saketh Myneni (IND) d. Akira Santilan (AUS) / Rubin Statham (NZL) 6-4 6-4
[F] Yuki Bhambri (IND) / Saketh Myneni (IND) def. (2) JC Aragone (USA) / Roberto Quiroz (EQU) 4-6 6-3 10-7

[R1] (4) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,170) l. J.C Aragone (USA,376) 64 16 67(5)

Arjun reached the semi final in a challenger in Portugal with his Italian partner.

At Oeiras 2 Challenger, Portugal (Clay)

[R1] (3) Arjun Kadhe (IND) / Marco Bortolotti (ITA) d. Tiago Cacao (BRA) / Fabio Coelho (BRA) 63 63

[QF] (3) Arjun Kadhe (IND) / Marco Bortolotti (ITA) d. Glen Smits (NED) / Denis Yevseyev (KAZ) 46 63 10-7

[SF] (3) Arjun Kadhe (IND) / Marco Bortolotti (ITA) l. Zdnek Kolar (CZE) /Adam Pavalsek (CZE) 26 57

Divij’s bad form continued as he lost in first round of big challenger in Mexico

At Mexico City Challenger 125 (Red Clay)

[R1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND) / Goncalo Oliviera (POR) l. Mateus Alves (BRA) / Ernest Escobedo (USA) 75 57 8-10

Vijay Sunder Prashanth and Aniruddha Chandrashekhar lost in first round to eventual champions in Spain challenger.

At Murcia Challenger 80, Spain

[R1] Vijay Sunder Prashanth (IND) / Aniruddha Chandrashekhar (IND) l. Inigo Cervantes (ESP) / Oriol Roco Batalla (ESP) 57 57

ITF Tour

Lots of Indian players in men and women started in Thailand where there are 4 weeks of comeptitions in men and women. This week there was a M15 and W25 in Thailand.

There were 4 Indians in the main draw in men- Adil Kalyanpur, Nitin Kumar Sinha, S.D. Prajwal Dev and Dgivijay Pratap Singh and only Zeel Desai in womens main draw. But, there was only 1 Indian win in Nitin Kumar Sinha over fellow Indian Adil Kalyanpur but other Indians lost in first round.

ITF Junior Circuit

4 weeks of Junior team competitions ( Asia Oceania Group) will be taking place in next 4 weeks in New Delhi. This week started with girls under 16 junior Bille Jean Cup.

We did well to top the group and also win our QF easily but had very close loss against Thailand in SF and then another doubles loss against Japan to finish 4th which meant we just missed out on qualifying for world group where only top 3 were eligible – Australia, Thailand and Japan.

Standout performance for us came in the form of our #1 player, Shruti Ahalawat who won all 6 of her singles matches in dominating fashion not dropping a set. Unfortunately, she lacked support from our #2 and #3 players.

These are the detailed results for our team-

India bt Malaysia 2-1 (Niyati Kukreti lost to Yu Chi Chan 5-7, 2-6; Shruti Ahlawat bt Jo Leen Saw 6-0, 7-6(5); Shruti & Niyati bt Yu Chi & Jo Leen 6-3, 3-0 (retired) )

India bt Uzbekistan 2-1 (Riya Sachdeva lost to Sabrina Olimjonova 0-6, 1-6; Shruti Ahlawat bt Shaknoza Marimova 6-0, 6-0; Shruti & Niyati Kukreti bt Zlata Chinnova & Shaknoza 6-1, 7-5 )

India bt Iran 2-1 (Niyati Kukreti bt Nili Atfi 7-5, 6-0; Shruti Ahlawat bt Mandegar Farzami 6-0, 6-1; Niyati & Riya Sachdeva lost to Nili Atfi & Mehraneh Zohourian 3-1 rt

India bt Hong Kong 2-1 (Niyati Kukreti lost to Ching Laam Lai 4-6, 3-6; Shruti Ahlawat bt Jane Ling Chun Wong 6-0, 6-1; Shruti & Niyati bt Naomi Hagi & Ching Laam Lai 6-3, 6-3)

Thailand bt India 2-1 (Lidia Podgorichani bt Niyati Kukreti 7-5, 6-2; Pimmda Thongkum lost to Shruti Ahlawat 1-6, 2-6; Lidia & Assarphon Wannapho bt Shruti & Niyati 6-4, 5-7, [10-7])

3/4th Placeoff – Japan bt India 2-1 (Mayu Crossly bt Riya Sachdeva 6-2, 6-1; Sara Saito lost to Shruti Ahlawat 2-6, 1-6; Hayu Kinoshita & Sara Saito bt Shruti & Niyati 6-1, 6-2)