The Sports-India Community

4 weeks of Indian futures series starts next week. It starts with Bhubneswar ( a new venue for international tennis, It think) followed by Kolkata, Chandigarh and Trivendrum. First 3 weeks on hard courts, Trivendrum on clay.

This is the entry list for first week -

MAIN DRAW - last modified on 20 Feb 2018
1 Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) 429 1
2 N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 524 1
3 Sidharth RAWAT (IND) 533 1
4 Arjun KADHE (IND) 565 1
5 Sami REINWEIN (GER) 613 1
6 Karunuday SINGH (IND) 618 1
7 Saketh MYNENI (IND) 623 1
8 Manuel PENA LOPEZ (ARG) 657 1
9 Francesco VILARDO (ITA) 659 2
10 Haadin BAVA (IND) 692 1
11 Aryan GOVEAS (IND) 756 1
12 Patrik RIKL (CZE) 775 2
13 Bogdan BOBROV (RUS) 816 2
14 Manish SURESHKUMAR (IND) 876 1
15 Chien Hsun LO (TPE) 956 1
16 Goran MARKOVIC (SRB) 963 1
17 Luka PAVLOVIC (FRA) 1007= 1
18 Dalwinder SINGH (IND) 1015 1

QUALIFYING - last modified on 20 Feb 2018
1 Jayesh PUNGLIYA (IND) 1017 1
2 Siddharth VISHWAKARMA (IND) 1106= 1
3 Kazuma KAWACHI (JPN) 1113 1
4 Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) 1115= 1
5 Nitin Kumar SINHA (IND) 1132 1
6 Stefan SKADARKA (AUS) 1158 P 1
7 Suraj R PRABODH (IND) 1206 1
8 Anurag NENWANI (IND) 1253= 1
9 Tyler HOCHWALT (USA) 1276= 1
10 Niki KALIYANDA POONACHA (IND) 1283= 1
11 S D Prajwal DEV (IND) 1349= 1
12 Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) 1367= 1
13 Abhinav Sanjeev SHANMUGAM (IND) 1367= 1
14 Vijayant MALIK (IND) 1367= 1
15 Shahbaaz KHAN (IND) 1367= 1
16 Nicholas BYBEL (USA) 1390= 1
17 Tejas CHAUKULKAR (IND) 1398= 1
18 Anirudh CHANDRASEKAR (IND) 1415= 1
19 Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 1551= 1
20 Paramveer Singh BAJWA (IND) 1572= 1
21 Dhruv SUNISH (IND) 1572= 1
22 Lawrence BATALJIN (AUS) 1592= 2
23 Siva Deep KOSARAJU (IND) 1671= 1
24 Chandril SOOD (IND) 1825= 1
25 Jarryd WOOG (USA) 1825= 1
26 Anvit BENDRE (IND) 1825= 1


ALTERNATES - last modified on 20 Feb 2018
1 Dhakshineswar SURESH (IND) 1886= 1
2 Adil KALYANPUR (IND) 1918= 1
3 Lluis DOLZ (ESP) 1918= 1
4 Vasisht CHERUKU (IND) 1952= 1

A stacked draw as far as Indian participation goes. Except for our top 5 ( and Vishnu who is focussed on doubles) everyone else is out here.

The entry list for second week appears tougher as of now with 2 Spaniards coming in at the top of the list and couple more foreigners too among top 5.

India F2 entry list

MAIN DRAW - last modified on 20 Feb 2018
1 Carlos BOLUDA-PURKISS (ESP) 329 2
2 Mario VILELLA MARTINEZ (ESP) 334 2
3 Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) 430 1
4 Leny MITJANA (FRA) 463 1
5 Nam Hoang LY (VIE) 473 1
6 N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 530 1
7 Sidharth RAWAT (IND) 531 1
8 Arjun KADHE (IND) 567 1
9 Sami REINWEIN (GER) 614 1
10 Karunuday SINGH (IND) 620 1
11 Saketh MYNENI (IND) 623 1
12 Manuel PENA LOPEZ (ARG) 655 1
13 Francesco VILARDO (ITA) 656 1
14 Haadin BAVA (IND) 681 1
15 Aryan GOVEAS (IND) 758 1
16 Patrik RIKL (CZE) 771 2
17 Bogdan BOBROV (RUS) 817 1
18 Muhammet HAYLAZ (TUR) 871 3

QUALIFYING - last modified on 20 Feb 2018
1 Manish SURESHKUMAR (IND) 877 1
2 Chien Hsun LO (TPE) 956 1
3 Goran MARKOVIC (SRB) 960 1
4 Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) 989 1
5 Luka PAVLOVIC (FRA) 1006= 1
6 Yu Hsiang CHIU (TPE) 1011= 1
7 Dalwinder SINGH (IND) 1014 1
8 Jayesh PUNGLIYA (IND) 1016= 1
9 Pavel FILIN (BLR) 1033 1
10 Siddharth VISHWAKARMA (IND) 1106= 1
11 Kazuma KAWACHI (JPN) 1114 1
12 Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) 1115= 1
13 Nitin Kumar SINHA (IND) 1136 1
14 Stefan SKADARKA (AUS) 1158 P 1
15 Kunal ANAND (IND) 1167= 1
16 Suraj R PRABODH (IND) 1204 1
17 Anurag NENWANI (IND) 1254= 1
18 Lance-Pierre DU TOIT (RSA) 1268= 1
19 Tyler HOCHWALT (USA) 1277= 1
20 Niki KALIYANDA POONACHA (IND) 1284= 1
21 Stanislav POPLAVSKYY (UKR) 1288= 1
22 S D Prajwal DEV (IND) 1349= 1
23 Vijayant MALIK (IND) 1365= 1
24 Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) 1365= 1
25 Abhinav Sanjeev SHANMUGAM (IND) 1365= 1
26 Shahbaaz KHAN (IND) 1365= 1

Of course, if Saketh is fully fit he should run thru these fields. I don't know why he is not playing challengers in Japan instead with his PR.

It hurts to see Saketh in a futures field . I guess he wants to get into some match rhythm before trying the Challengers?

Yes, but looks like his injury protection period may end soon. He played his first tournament since return from 17th July and injury protection is only for a 9 month period. He has used his PR only for 2 tournaments so far but looks he had been periodically injured even during this period. So, his period to use PR should end on 16th April. So, not too many challengers where he can use his PR now. He should have used it for ongoing Japan challengers. He can always go back and play futures if he does not do too well in those challengers.

I think it's eminently reasonable for Saketh to play Futures now, get back into the winning habit, gather some points while he is fit, and then play some Challengers with his protected ranking. He may not be able to use the entire quota of protected tournaments, but there's no point entering those tournaments simply to lose in the first round. He needs to find some form before playing Challengers, so I think he is doing the right thing here. If he wins a tournament or two here, he can switch to Challengers -- of which there are quite a few in Asia over the next couple of months.

Lots to look forward to in this set of Futures. Saki returning from injury, Sasi hopefully corrects his free fall through the rankings, Arjun and Sid moving up the rankings. Hopefully, we see some new names emerge from the younger Indians.

It would be nice to see consistency from the leading players as a stepping stone to challengers. 2 semis and 2 finals and 1 win would be the dream but that is probably me being very optimistic. Fingers crossed.

Indian players winning futures titles in Indiais not so optimistic these days.

Last year all 9 futures titles in the year were wondering by Indians- ( 3 by Sasi, 2 each by Prajnesh and Balaji and 1 each by Yuki and Sumit). But, all of those players were really established players at that level and used those tournaments to prop up their ranking. ( except perhaps Sasi who first time showed consistency at this level).
I would be excited if some the younger ones go all the way in at least a couple of tournaments. Would be keenly watching performancrs of the likes of Manish Suresh Kumar, Nitin Sinha, Abhinav Sanjeev, Adil Kalyanpur and other young ones.

Indian players winning futures titles in Indiais not so optimistic these days.

Last year all 9 futures titles in the year were wondering by Indians- ( 3 by Sasi, 2 each by Prajnesh and Balaji and 1 each by Yuki and Sumit). But, all of those players were really established players at that level and used those tournaments to prop up their ranking. ( except perhaps Sasi who first time showed consistency at this level).
I would be excited if some the younger ones go all the way in at least a couple of tournaments. Would be keenly watching performancrs of the likes of Manish Suresh Kumar, Nitin Sinha, Abhinav Sanjeev, Adil Kalyanpur and other young ones.

This series is the best bet for someone like Arjun Kadhe to improve his rankings and transition to lower level challengers. Good luck to Saki on his comeback trot - at an age of 30, this could be the last year for him to decide whether he wants to pursue singles or become a doubles specialist.

Saketh Myneni withdrew from the first week. So unpredictable!

First round qualies results for first week at Bhubneswar-

Abhinav Sanjeev SHANMUGAM (IND) [1] 6-2 6-3 Tarun Anirudh CHILAKALAPUDI (IND)
Vasisht CHERUKU (IND) 7-6(4) 3-6 6-1 Anirudh CHANDRASEKAR (IND) [10]
Sai Saran Reddy BYREDDY (IND) 7-5 7-5 Anurag NENWANI (IND) [2]
Ankit CHOPRA (IND) 6-3 3-6 7-6(4) Lluis DOLZ (ESP) [16]
Tyler HOCHWALT (USA) [3] 6-1 6-1 Kabir HANS (IND)
Dhruv SUNISH (IND) [12] 6-3 6-2 Jatin DAHIYA (IND)
Abhinansu BORTHAKUR (IND) 6-3 6-2 Niki KALIYANDA POONACHA (IND) [4]
Jarryd WOOG (USA) [15] 5-7 6-3 7-6(8) Harris TRISMEN (USA)
S D Prajwal DEV (IND) [5] 6-3 6-4 Amarnath ARORA (IND)
Hardeep Singh SANDHU (IND) 7-5 6-4 Siva Deep KOSARAJU (IND) [14]
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) [6] 6-0 6-1 Pratyush MOHANTY (IND)
Stefan SKADARKA (AUS) 6-2 6-4 Lawrence BATALJIN (AUS) [13]
Dhakshineswar SURESH (IND) 7-5 6-3 Shahbaaz KHAN (IND) [7]
Nicholas BYBEL (USA) [9] 7-6(2) 6-2 Alex SOLANKI (IND)
Vijayant MALIK (IND) [8] 6-3 6-2 Adil KALYANPUR (IND)
Paramveer Singh BAJWA (IND) [11] 6-2 7-5 Abhishek GAUR (IND)

Good results by some of the younger ones Dhakshineswar Suresh and Vasisht Cheruku. But, again disappointed with the tame loss of Adil Kalyanpur against Vijayant who hardly plays these days. What is Nadal academy doing with his game ?

It's very disappointing to see Adil lose to Vijayant. What's going on at Nadal Academy? He should be dominating these matches. He is 18 already, yet no signs of anything significant coming out of his touted stint at the famous academy.

- Varma

Hope I am wrong but I think a lot of the hype around Adil appears to be based on his height/physique and "big" game although he's never seemed to play particularly well. I recall similar hype around Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash in years past - hopefully Adil will not follow his career path....

We ( remember Sumanta being there too) had seen Mohit play at Mumbai futures. He did seem to have really the game to make it to at least the challenger level . Not sure what happened thereafter. Mohit fell way short of expectations.

Never seen Adil play. So, not sure of his game. He has the height but he still has to win title even in ITF junior circuit. So, not really sure of his talent level.