Prajnesh Gunneswaran went down fighting 6-2, 6-7(5), 2-6 to
qualifier Daniel Smethurst of Britain in the pre-quarterfinals of the $50,000
challenger tennis tournament in Champaign, US.
The 24-year-old left-hander from Chennai, who has won two
Futures singles titles this season, had earlier beaten Denys Molchanov of
Ukraine 6-4, 6-2.
Sanam Singh beat qualifier Evan King of the US 6-3, 6-2
before being tamed 6-3, 6-4 by the eighth-seeded John-Patrick Smith of
Australia in the second round.
Sanam, who had won the Asian Games gold in Guangzhou with
Somdev Devvarman, made the doubles semifinals with Michael Shabaz of the US. The
Indo-American pair went down fighting to the second seeds Austin Krajicek and
Tennys Sandgren of the US after knocking out the third-seeded Rik De Voest of
South Africa and Rajeev Ram of the US in the quarterfinals.
The results:
Doubles (semifinal):
Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren (US) bt Michael Shabaz (US) and Sanam Singh
6-7(3), 6-3, 10-7; Quarterfinal: Michael
Shabaz and Sanam Singh bt Rik De Voest (RSA) and Rajeev Ram (US) 6-4, 6-4;
First round: Michael Shabaz and Sanam Singh bt Milan Pokrajac (Can) and Denis
Zivkovic (US) 6-4, 6-4.
Sumit Nagal loses
pre-quarterfinals in ITF Futures in Bradenton
The best ranked Indian junior at the moment, Sumit Nagal had
a taste of the men’s world, as he went down fighting 5-7, 4-6 to the third-seeded
Romain Arneodo of Monaco in the pre-quarterfinals of the $10,000 ITF men’s
Futures tennis tournament organised by the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
The 16-year-old Sumit, coached by Bobby Mahal, had earlier beaten Catalin-Ionut Gard of
Romania 6-0, 7-6(5).
In doubles, Sumit in partnership with Naoki Nakagawa of
Japan went down to Maxim Lunkin and Andrey rublev of Russia 7-6(6), 4-6, 7-10
in the quarterfinals after beating Oleg Dmitriev of Russia and Mohd. Assri Merzuki
of Malaysia 7-6(6), 6-1 in the first round.
Indian boys get a
taste of international competition
While most of the leading players were busy in New Delhi,
competing in the $10,000 ITF men’s tournament in Delhi, two players tried their
luck in the qualifying event of the $10,000 ITF men’s tournament in Sharm El
Sheikh, Egypt, without much luck.
The results: Qualifying
event (first round): Phillip Sikman (GBR) bt Arjun Manjunatha 6-2, 6-2;
Melik Feler (Fra) bt Sachin Sathnur Mahesh 6-2, 6-0.
BR Nikshep loses
semifinals in ITF junior tournament in Bangladesh
B. R. Nikshep made the singles semifinals and the doubles
final of the ITF grade-5 junior tennis tournament in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The results:
Boys (semifinals):
Tin Chen (Tpe) bt B. R. Nikshep 6-2, 6-2; Quarterfinals:
Tin Chen (Tpe) bt Alex Solanki 6-3, 6-3;
B. R. Nikshep bt S. D. Prajwal Dev 6-3, 6-4.
Pre-quarterfinals:
Zhansultan Chembotayev (Kaz) bt Paramveer Singh Bajwa 6-1, 6-4; Kareem Allaf
(syr) bt Vishu Prasad 6-2, 6-1; Shao-Min Ko (Tpe) bt Sahil Gaware 6-4, 6-3;
Alex Solanki bt Nishangan Nadaraja (Sri) 6-3, 7-6(4); B.R. Nikshep bt Katsuva
Kezon (Jpn) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3; S. D. Prajwal Dev bt Armando C. Soemarno (Ina)
6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3.
Second round:
Shamael Chaudhry (GBR) bt Christian Cummings 6-2, 6-2; Paramveer Singh Bajwa bt
Cheng-Shan Kuo (Tpe) 6-3, 6-4; Vishu Prasad bt Jerome Romualdez (Phi) 6-3, 6-4;
Sahil Gaware bt Mohammad akter Hossain Rana (Ban) 6-4, 6-1; Alex solanki bt
Tsubasa Kato (Jpn) 6-3, 6-4; Tin Chen (tpe) bt Richie Agarwal 6-1, 6-1; Bolat
Mamyr (Kaz) bt Saitejas Mopuri 6-2, 5-7,
7-5; B. R.Nikshep bt Tin-Yu Wang (Tpe) 6-2, 6-0; S. D. Prajwal Dev bt Vladimir
Gnilozubov (Kaz) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3; Armando C. Soemarno (Ina) bt Aditya Anant Gokhale
6-0, 7-5.
First round:
Christina Cummings bt Sharful Islam Tinku (Ban) 6-3, 7-6(5); Mohammad Jamil
Bhuiyan (Ban) bt Jaffer Javed 6-1, 6-3; Richie Agarwal bt Tahmid Raqeeb Autul
(Ban) 6-0, 6-1; Saitejas Mopuri bt Md. Jumman Hossain Jony (Ban) 7-5, 6-1; S. D.
Prajwal Dev bt Md. Kawsar Ali (Ban) 6-1, 6-1; Aditya Anant Gokhale bt Mamum
Bapari (Ban) 6-1, 7-5.
Doubles (final):
Tin Chen and Cheng-Shan Kuo (Tpe) bt B. R. Nikshep and Sahil Gaware 6-3, 1-6,
10-8; Semifinals: B. R. Nikshep and
Sahil Gaware bt Kareem Allaf (Syr) and Shamael Chaudhry (GBR) 6-4, 6-4; Quarterfinals: Kareem Allaf and Shamael
Chaudhry bt S. D. Prajwal Dev and Vishu Prasad 6-7(6), 6-4, 10-8; B. R. Nikshep
and Sahil Gaware bt Armando C.Soemarno and Yoga Argi Syahputra (Ina) 7-6(2), 6-2; Tin
Chen and Cheng-Shan Kuo (Tpe) bt Nuttakit Veerathammasorn (Tha) and Richie Agarwal
3-6, 6-1, 10-5.
Second round: S.
D. Prajwal Dev and Vishu Prasad bt Mohammad Jamil Bhuiyan (Ban) and Nishangan
Nadaraja (Sri) 3-6, 7-6(5), 10-8; B. R. Nikshep and Sahil Gaware bt Tsubasa
Kato (Jpn) and zu Zinyang Jan (Mas) 7-5, 7-6(6); Richie Agarwal and Nuttakit Veerathammasorn
bt Paramveer Singh Bajwa and Alex Solanki 6-3, 6-2; Katsuya Ikezoi and Shoma Tokumitsu
(Jpn) bt Yang Liu (Tpe) and Aditya Anant Gokhale 6-4, 6-2.
First round: S.
D. Prajwal Dev and Vishu Praad bt Run Jia Fang (chn) and Saitejas Mopuri 7-5,
6-2; Richie Agarwal and Nuttakit Veerathammasorn bt Muhammadmustafo
Abdurakhimonov (Uzb) and Saleem Shadman (Ban) 6-1, 6-0; John Paul Avila (Mex)
and Sree Biplob Ram (Ban) bt Christian Cummings and Nihit Rawal 6-4, 6-3.
Qualifying event
(second and final round): Aditya Anant Gokhale bt Yoga Argi Syahputra (Ina)
3-6, 7-5, 6-4; tin-Yu Wang (Tpe) bt Anshuman gulia 6-3, 6-3; Saitejas Mopuri bt
Jaffer Javed 7-5, 6-3; Yang Liu (Tpe) bt Siddharth Anand 6-2, 6-4.
First round:
Aditya Anant Gokhale bt Nihit Rawal 3-6, 6-2, 6-1; tin-Yu Wang (Tpe) bt Yuvraj
Bains 6-2, 6-1; Saitejas Mopuri bt Adi Kaliakperov (Kaz) 6-4, 7-6(4); Siddharth
Anand bt Adam Hobbs (Can) 6-4, 6-2.
Girls (quarterfinals):
Angeline Devi Devanthiran (Sin) bt Shivani Manjanna 6-1, 6-3; Pre-quarterfinals: Sarvinoz Sandhujaeva
(Uzb) bt Nikitha Tirdala 6-1, 6-1; Yuri Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt Sri Sai Shivani 4-6,
6-1, 6-4; Han-Chi Chen (Tpe) bt Angella Raman 6-3, 6-4; Shivani Manjanna bt
Mdhira Samarasinghe (Sri) 6-4, 6-7(3), -1; Angeline Devi Devanthiran bt Gopika
Madhu 6-1, 6-2.
Second round:
Nikitha Tirdala bt Afrana Islam Prity (Ban) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4; Sri Sai Shivani bt
Ayesha Sultana (Ban) 6-1, 6-1; Nancy Fawzy (Egy) bt Chaithali Adinath Narde
6-0, 6-0; Angella Raman bt Islam Nadia (Ban) 6-0, 6-1; Shivani Manjanna bt Sabina
Smirnova (Uzb) 6-4, 6-2; Gopika Madhu bt towfa Akther Bonna (Ban) 6-0, 6-1.
Doubles
(quarterfinals): Nancy Fawzy (Egy) and Kristina Ten (Uzb) bt alina Lazareva
(Kgz) and Angella Raman 5-7, 6-4, 10-3; Melisa Bekirova (Uzb) and Luciana
Rabines (US) bt Sri Sai Shivani and Nikitha Tirdala 6-1, 6-1.
Pre-quarterfinals:
Nancy Fawzy (Egy) and Kristina Ten (Uzb) bt Gopika Madhu and Shivani Manjanna
6-4, 6-2; Alina Lazareva (Kgz) and Angella Raman bt Jhilik Chakma and
MumituJannau Mou (Ban) 6-1, 6-2; Sri Sai Shivani and NikithaTirdala bt Afrana
Islam Prity and Ayesha Sultana (Ban) 6-3, 6-0.
Basil Khuma loses
first round in South Carolina
Basil Khuma was beaten 6-3, 7-6(5) by Alexander Phillips of
the US in the boys first round of the ITF grade-4 junior tennis tournament in
South Carolina, US.
In the girls section, Nandini Das was beaten 6-2, 6-4 by Alexandra
Valenstein of the US in the second round after she had beaten Elyse Lavender of
the US 7-5, 6-1 in the first. Ojasvinee Singh, the other Indian girl, seeded
fourth, was beaten 6-2, 6-1 by Kennedy Shaffer of the US in the first round.
The results:
Girls doubles (second
round): Helen Abigail Altick and Alexa Bortles (US) bt Michelle Kaplan (Can)
and Ojasvinee Singh 6-4, 6-1; Mercedes Hammond and Maria Smith (US) bt Nandini
Das and Shweta Sangwan 6-1, 7-6(4).
First round:
Michelle Kaplan (Can) and Ojasvinee Singh bt Deepa Dhore and Kennedy Wicker
(US) 6-4, 6-4.
