Hometown favorite Manas Dhamne showcased top form at the Maha Open ATP Challenger 75 men’s tennis Championship in Pune, storming into the men’s singles quarterfinals at the Shiv Chhatrapati Kreeda Sankul, Mhalunge Balewadi Tennis Stadium. Dhamne, an unseeded player, delighted the crowd by defeating former top-50 player Ilya Ivashka, who retired while trailing 3-6 due to injury. He will face Croatia’s Duje Ajdukovic in the quarterfinals on Friday.
In other matches, unseeded Duje Ajdukovic from Croatia impressively beat fifth seed Frederico Ferreira Silva of Portugal with a scoreline of 6-2, 6-2. Britain’s Alastair Gray staged a remarkable comeback to upset third seed Ilia Simakin 4-6, 7-6(7), 7-5 in a thrilling contest lasting 2 hours and 50 minutes. Sixth seed Federico Cina of Italy also secured a victory, defeating Japan’s Yuta Shimizu 6-1, 6-4.
The doubles first round saw top seeds Siddhant Banthia (India) and Alexander Donski (Bulgaria) overcoming a tough challenge to defeat Luca Castelnuovo (Switzerland) and Uisung Park (Korea) 7-6(5), 6-2. Indian wildcards Saketh Myneni and Digvijaypratap Singh claimed a solid 6-3, 6-3 win over Japan’s Masamichi Imamura and Kokoro Isomura. Jay Clarke (Great Britain) and Michael Geerts (Belgium) also secured a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Japanese duo Takuya Kumasaka and Rio Noguchi.
Ryuki Matsuda (Japan) and Ilia Simakin defeated Aryan Lakshmanan (India) and Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong (Malaysia) 7-6(3), 7-5 in a closely contested match. As the quarterfinal line-up shapes up, the competition intensifies, setting the stage for thrilling action in Pune. India No. 1 Sumit Nagal is scheduled to play on Thursday at 2pm.
