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Hitesh was broken for 5-6. Then he had 3 BPs at 0-40. Lost the next 5 points to lose the match.

Great fightback from Hitesh:

[R1] Q-Nikita Ianin (RUS, 1461; CH 1213) vs. W-Hitesh Chauhan (IND, UNR; CH 1692) 76(7) 57 45

From being 2-4 down, Hitesh won the second set 7-5.
He now leads 4-2 in the final set. And he holds for 5-2.
Ianin holds at 15. 5-3
Serving for the match. Deuce, Ad-out (BP ...

[R1] Sidharth Rawat (IND, 834; CH 430) d. PR-Digvijay Pratap Singh (IND, UNR; CH 485) 64 64
[R1] Q-Nikita Ianin (RUS, 1461; CH 1213) vs. W-Hitesh Chauhan (IND, UNR; CH 1692) 76(7) 23 (Hitesh down a break in 2nd set)

21 year old Chirag Duhan has made a good start:

[R1] Chirag Duhan (IND, 1016; CH 933) d. 8-Dominik Palan (CZE, 611; CH 280) 76(7) 64

Chirag breaks at the start of the second set to make it 1-0.
Very poor service game from Chirag, who has a big first serve but a weak second serve. DF at deuce ...

Pretty tough to get in if he is 8th on the list of alternates for the qualifying rounds...

Bad start in Bengaluru:

[R1] 7-Dev Javia (IND, 606) l. Maxim Zhukov (RUS, 639) 46 16
[R1] Nick Chappell (USA, 701; CH 329) d. Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar (IND, 1471) 63 62

Slight changes at end of the week, with Anirudh's title at Girona:

26 Yuki Bhambri (NCH)
44 Rohan Bopanna (1)
60 N Sriram Balaji (NCH)
69 Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli (65)
93 Arjun Kadhe (76)
95 Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (64)
100 Anirudh Chandrasekhar (87)
105 Vijay Sundar Prashanth (80)
128 Niki ...

Yes, indeed, a very good win in the final for Anirudh over a strong pair. That takes him back into the top-100 -- at exactly 100 in the live doubles rankings. David Vega Hernandez is 122 in the live doubles rankings.

(Incidentally, Nuno Borges -- a singles specialist who rarely plays doubles -- is ...

Remarkably gutsy decision by Riyan Parag to give the final two overs to Indian bowlers -- and especially the 20th over to Sandeep Sharma -- rather than Jofra Archer. It worked, as Sandeep bowled a perfect Yorker that got Dhoni holing out to long on.

The IPL is primarily a professional T20 league, not a cradle for the Indian team. The owners will attempt to maximise their performances and payoffs, not focus on preparing players for Team India. Aniket Verma, however, is looking like a good prospect for India.

Adil Kalyanpur/Kody Pearson won the doubles title, so the Ahmedabad M25 has been a very fruitful tournament for us.

Wonderful to see Aryan win the M25 title, and do it in some style with an emphatic victory over the world #298 who had seemed unbeatable in India the last two weeks. Stepping it up for a M25 is even better from a points perspective.

potos had pointed out that Alex Eala was a big match/tournament player -- and that his been amply borne out this week! Very important attribute.

Thanks potos. I seem to recall that we had concluded that 'Eala' is an alternative spelling for Ayala. But I need to dig that up again.

Maaya has a good first serve (powerful, but low percentage), but a very poor second serve -- and the difference between the two is too stark. Her coach points out ...

Aryan is looking like the rising star from this cohort. It would be terrific if he can top off this week by beating Jay Clarke tomorrow.