$50K(+H) Pune/$100K(+H) Bengaluru Challengers Nov 13-26, 2017

[Sin Hombre]

If Yuki wins here, he will either be #100 or #101 (if Dutra Silva makes it to semis at Rio).

[vatsal323]

Don't Yuki's Futures points from last December drop off? If they do, will he still make it to the AO main draw?

[sameerph]

His futures points drop off on 1st January 2018. AO main draw entry list will come out based on rankings as on 4th December.

So, if Yuki wins the title here will make the AO main draw -100 or 101 will be enough.

[prasen9]

I am thankful to everyone here who painstakingly formats the scores in the right format. That is, for Indian players you color code it to green when one wins and red when one loses. That pops out and when I am quickly skimming things to find the score on a busy day, I can see it clearly. Rarely, ok, maybe not as rarely, two Indian players meet when we see this. Green and red on the same line in the match Yuki won today. But, to me, the red seems brighter than the green. Is it the same for everybody? Or a quirk caused by my eyes?

[Sin Hombre]

His futures points drop off on 1st January 2018. AO main draw entry list will come out based on rankings as on 4th December.

So, if Yuki wins the title here will make the AO main draw -100 or 101 will be enough.

I count 3 players with a top 100 PR so agree with your assessment; not sure if I missed out on any.

[sameerph]

Yes, I think Yang was year-end world #1 in 2008 while Yuki was #2.

update: I looked it up. Tomic was #3 and Goffin was #10.

Yes, Yang was French open junior champion in 2008 and AO juniors runner up the same year. But, his ATP career high so far has been only 164.

He is like many other Asian players who are not able to convert their junior success in pros. ( Also true of Yuki to a lesser extent ).

[arjun2761]

Great win by Sumit and great consistency by Yuki so far.

Both have lots to gain by winning the title here - Yuki likely gets a AO main draw entry while Sumit ensures a AO qualies entry. Hopefully, the winner of this SF wins the title as Jay Clarke and Yang look eminently beatable especially by Yuki.

[SomeGuyfromMumbai]

I hope Yuki wins this one. Sumit has another opportunity anyway next week at the Asia Pacific WC play offs

[ankit1407]

Hopefully Yuki goes all the way, with his fragile fitness I will be very sceptical of him going through the Q round irrespective of what seeding he gets ...just get the job done and conceantrate on making some noise at Aus open and not to forget a decent pay cheque ...Good luck

[PKBasu]

What a wonderful day for Indian tennis. An all-Indian semifinal assured at the $100K+H Challenger in Bangalore, and an Indian quarter finalist at the WTA Mumbai Open too!

Kudos to Sumit for the best win of his career, and that too a straight-sets thrashing of the world #102!!

[PKBasu]

Yáng Tsung-Hua is a year older than Yuki, and won the 2008 FO junior title beating Janowicz in the final. That year, he also lost the AO singles final to Tomic in 3 sets, and made the US Open semifinal (losing a 3-setter to Dimitrov), apart from winning two Slam junior doubles titles. But he has never made it as a singles pro, failing to qualify for a single Slam main draw so far. In fact, his career high singles ranking was just 164 and his career high doubles ranking was 141. Height is an issue for him, but Goffin has overcome that: just poor coaching explains the utter failure in making the transition from junior to pro ranks.

[PKBasu]

10 years ago this month, at the age of 15, Yuki won the first set against reigning US Open junior champion Ricardas Berankis (two years older) and narrowly lost the second set tiebreaker before losing the third set tamely — in the last-16 stage of the Orange Bowl. That is how talented Yuki was as a kid. Thankfully, his pro career has been better managed than Yang’s although there have too many missed opportunities along the way. This is a grear chance to set himself up for an excellent 2018: if he is fit and starts the year in the top-100, with the ATP tournament at Pune as a launching pad, next year could finally see his pro breakthrough.
Of course, I am completely neutral in the SF between the India #1 and #4. There is much at stake for both, and the winner of this match will surely win the title.

[PKBasu]

Divij back at #50 in the live doubles rankings. If he wins the final (beginning this evening at 6:30pm), he will rise to a career high 47 in doubles.

[Sin Hombre]

Talking of Korean counterparts, I am curious if Sumit will catch up or overtake Duckhee and Soonwo Kwon.

Duckhee had a meteoric rise in rankings with some "good" scheduling but has been somewhat stagnant for the last 18 months or so; while the latter is continuing to grind up.

[sameerph]

True, Sumit was below these 2 Koreans in juniors and also of 2 other Koreans- Seong Chan Hong, Yunseong Chung ( to whom he lost couple of times each).
He is already ahead of those 2 now in pros. I think he will go ahead of other 2 Koreans too ( Duck Hee Lee and Soonwo Kwon) in a couple of years time. Just a guess. His training in Europe and tough competition there seems to have helped him.