$50K(+H) Chennai Challenger, 12-18 Feb. 2018

[jaydeep]

Arjun vs Saketh in Round 1 would be a mouthwatering clash.

Dinesh your wish has been granted ...
Sid is facing Suresh and Abhina having a tough match against experienced Russian.

[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,388) vs (Q) Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (THA,457)
[R1] (WC) Manish Sureshkumar (IND,876) vs Danilo Petrovic (SRB,250)
[R1] (PR) Saketh Myneni (IND,623) vs (Q) Arjun Kadhe (IND,565)
[R1] (WC) Nitin Kumar Sinha (IND,1132) vs Lucas Catarina (MON,365)
[R1] (8) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,242) vs Pedro Martinez (ESP,252)
[R1] (5) Sumit Nagal (IND,220) vs Antoine Escoffier (FRA,371)
[R1] Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,429) vs Gerard Granollers (ESP,357)
[R1] (Q) Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam (IND,1367) vs Ivan Nedelko (RUS,275)
[R1] (WC) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,524) vs (3) Duckhee Lee (KOR,207)
[R1] (WC) Dhakshineswar Suresh (IND,1886) vs (Q) Siddharth Rawat (IND,533)
[R1] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,112) vs Bernabe Zapata Miralles (ESP,270)

[sameerph]

Also doubles draw is out -

(1) Ratiwatana/Ratiwatana v Sood/Sood
Cacic/Nedelko v (wc)Anand/Bendre
(3)Granollers/Uchiyama v Ilkel/Petrovic
Gunneswaran/Prashanth v (wc)Kadhe/Suresh

Martinez/Nagal v Altuna/Safwat
(wc)Kalyanpur/Mukund v (4)Margaroli/Myneni
Bega/Coppejans v Catarina/Purcell
Popko/Zapata Miralles v (2)Balaji/Vardhan

Tomorrow, Saketh-Arjun match will start first up on centre court at 10 am followed by VSP-Duck Hee Lee and then Sumit-Escoffier. On court 1, Balaji against Thai qualifier first up at 10 am followed by Nitin against Catarania. On court 3, Sasi starts against Gerlald Granollers followed by Sid against Dakshineshwar Suresh.

Hope there is live stream for at least 2 courts.

[Saniapower]

Arjun over Saketh

[PKBasu]

A pity that Arjun Kadhe has 17 year old Dakshineshwar Suresh as his doubles partner. (I presume it isn't Manish Sureshkumar, who would have been a good partner). Arjun is a major doubles talent as we know.

[suresh]

A pity that Arjun Kadhe has 17 year old Dakshineshwar Suresh as his doubles partner. (I presume it isn't Manish Sureshkumar, who would have been a good partner). Arjun is a major doubles talent as we know.

I suspect that the organisers cut a deal with him for the doubles wildcard.

[sameerph]

Yes, it looks like so. Arjun needed a wild card for getting into doubles draw and he had no option to go with whichever partner organisers assign. Anyway, he cannot complain much as he had got a good deal with wild cards previously for Pune challenger and then ATP events.

[PKBasu]

Saketh breaks Arjun early to take a 2-0 lead in the first set on Centre Court.

[sameerph]

Arjun broke back immediately and now it is 4-4 in the first set.

[sameerph]

Saketh wins the first set 76(5).

Bala and Sasi have lost the first sets 4-6 and 3-6 respectively in their matches.

[sameerph]

Arjun takes the second set 6-3 against Saketh.
Balaji takes the second set 6-3 against Wishaya.

Both these matches go into third set.

Sasi lost his match.

[R1] Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,429) l. Gerard Granollers (ESP,357) 36 26

Tame loss for Sasi. He is still not able to take the next step to challenger level even at home.

[Saniapower]

focus on towel - towelman

[sameerph]

Arjun wins in 3 sets over Saki but Bala lost his match.

[R1] (Q) Arjun Kadhe (IND,565) d. (PR) Saketh Myneni (IND,623) 67(5) 63 64

[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,388) l. (Q) Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (THA,457) 46 63 57

[R1] (Q) Siddharth Rawat (IND,533) d. (WC) Dhakshineswar Suresh (IND,1886) 62 60

[PKBasu]

Good, hard-fought win for Arjun, who seems to be coming along nicely.
Sid got lucky with his R1 opponent. Sad to see Balaji losing.

[PKBasu]

VSP trails 1-4 in the first set against Duck-hee.

Nitin has just been broken at 30. Down 1-3

[sameerph]

[R1] (WC) Nitin Kumar Sinha (IND,1132) l. Lucas Catarina (MON,365) 36 46

[R1] (WC) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,524) l. (3) Duckhee Lee (KOR,207) 36 46

First time I saw Nitin Kumar Sinha play. Overall his game looks pretty good. No major weaknesses, both forehand and backhand good, first serve is decent. He seems to have a very good second serve - won 69% points on second serve and good mobility around the court. Perhaps will need to add some weapons to succeed at this level but than he was playing a very good player today - 21 year old who has won 3 futures title last year. So, decent performance by Nitin in his first match at this level.