African ITF Series April-May 2018 - Nigeria/ Uganda/ Zimbabwe

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Re: African ITF Series April-May 2018 ( Nigeria,Uganda)

Post by sameerph »

Arjun lost the doubles final with his American partner against the second seeds. Still, with 20 points from week, Arjun will move inside top 300 in the doubles rankings.

Faces a tough final tomorrow against a similar ranked 21 year old Brazilian who is in hot form here winning 13 out of the 14 matches he has played so far her in Nigeria. He will be looking to cap an almost perfect run in 3 weeks here. Hope Arjun spoils it for him tomorrow.
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Re: African ITF Series April-May 2018 ( Nigeria,Uganda)

Post by sameerph »

Arjun lost the doubles final with his American partner against the second seeds. Still, with 20 points from week, Arjun will move inside top 300 in the doubles rankings.

Faces a tough final tomorrow against a similar ranked 21 year old Brazilian who is in hot form here winning 13 out of the 14 matches he has played so far her in Nigeria. He will be looking to cap an almost perfect run in 3 weeks here. Hope Arjun spoils it for him tomorrow.
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Re: African ITF Series April-May 2018 ( Nigeria,Uganda)

Post by PKBasu »

At the Uganda F1 Futures in Kampala:

[QF] S D Prajwal DEV (IND,1366) l. (1) Ivan NEDELKO (RUS,267) 16 57
[QF] Kunal ANAND (IND,1168) l. (8) Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND,1161) 46 63 57
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Re: African ITF Series April-May 2018 ( Nigeria,Uganda)

Post by PKBasu »

At the Kampala doubles SF:

[SF] Vinayak Sharma KAZA /Goran MARKOVIC [1] d. Vasisht CHERUKU /S D Prajwal DEV 6-3 7-5

[SF] Darko BOJANOVIC /Shunsuke WAKITA [4] l. Kunal ANAND /Giovani SAMAHA [2] 7-6(4) 5-7 7-10
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Re: African ITF Series April-May 2018 ( Nigeria,Uganda)

Post by PKBasu »

At 27, Vinayak Sharma Kaza's career has been a disappointment. He reached a career-high of 655 in singles three years ago, and 496 in doubles two years ago. Kunal Anand is 25, while Prajwal Dev is the youngest of the lot (21).
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Re: African ITF Series April-May 2018 ( Nigeria,Uganda)

Post by PKBasu »

Arjun Kadhe was crushed 36 16 in the Abuja $25K final.
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Re: African ITF Series April-May 2018 ( Nigeria,Uganda)

Post by sameerph »

A bit disappointing to see one sided loss for Arjun in the final. Still, 20 important points for him from this week will take him to around 365 in the rankings. Getting closer to challenger main draw cut offs.

In Uganda, Kaza lost in the SF.

At $15K Uganda F1 futures, Kampala,Clay

[SF] (8) Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND,1161) l. (1) Ivan NEDELKO (RUS,267) 26 67(3)

Kunal and his partner won the doubles title.

[F] Kunal ANAND (IND) / Giovani SAMAHA (LBN) [2] 6-3 2-6 [10-8] Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) / Goran MARKOVIC (SRB) [1]
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Re: African ITF Series April-May 2018 ( Nigeria,Uganda)

Post by PKBasu »

Next week in Uganda, there's a slightly tougher field -- and Kaza is unseeded (but is drawn to meet the 8th seeded in R2.
Kunal Anand plays Nedelko (this week's winner) in R2.

There are 4 Indians in the final round of qualifying, with 2 playing each other (Dhruv Sunish vs Ansu Bhuyan).
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Re: African ITF Series April-May 2018 ( Nigeria,Uganda)

Post by PKBasu »

Two Indians qualified for the main draw in the Uganda F2:

[FQR] 1-Dhruv Sunish (IND, 1371) d. Ansu Bhuyan (IND, UNR) 61 66 defaulted
[FQR] 12-Vashisht Cheruku (IND, 1937) d. 8-Ahmed Choudhary (PAK, 1754) 61 62

It is odd that they have 16 seeds in a qualifying draw, out of which just 8 are going to qualify for the main draw!
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Re: African ITF Series April-May 2018 ( Nigeria,Uganda)

Post by bujilover »

Great results in the main draw this week too:

At Uganda F2 Futures

ROUND 1:

Kunal ANAND (IND,1166) 6-1 6-2 Arturs LAZDINS (LAT,1358)
S D Prajwal DEV (IND,1358) 2-6 6-0 6-4 Goran MARKOVIC (SRB,963) [6]
Jayesh PUNGLIYA (IND,1081) 7-5 6-1 Shalva DZHANASHIYA (RUS,632) [4]

More to come:

Vinayak Sharma KAZA - Dhruv SUNISH
Nicolas URYSON - Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN
Vasisht CHERUKU - Hugo LARGO [7]

Expecting Dhruv Sanish to put a good show in this all-Indian match. And I hope Vasisht Cheruku draws inspiration from his fellow countrymen to oust another seeded player here. :goodluck:
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Re: African ITF Series April-May 2018 ( Nigeria,Uganda)

Post by jayakris »

And Vasisht did get inspired by the others to pull an upset!!!... What is that, THREE seeds upset by our guys??? Whoa...

At the Uganda F2 Futures

[R1] Vinayak Sharma Kaza (IND,1160) d. (Q) Dhruv Sunish (IND,1368), 62 63
[R1] Ranjeet Virali Murugesan (IND,1252) d. Nicolas Uryson (ARG,1201), 76(8) 62
[R1] (Q) Vasisht Cheruku (IND,1942) d. (7) Hugo Largo (ESP,1018), 46 64 64

That puts six Indians in the second round! (seven, if you want to count a New Zealand guy who has an Indian name)

[R2] Kunal Anand (IND,1167) vs (1) Ivan Nedelko (RUS,273)
[R2] S D Prajwal Dev (IND,1354) vs (Q) Christoffer Solberg (SWE,1916)
[R2] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,1252) vs (Q) Vasisht Cheruku (IND,1942)
[R2] Jayesh Pungliya (IND,1080) vs Darko Bojanovic (BIH,1132)
[R2] Vinayak Sharma Kaza (IND,1160) vs (WC) Ajeet Rai (NZL,NR)

Hoping to see some 3 or 4 in the QFs.
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Re: African ITF Series April-May 2018 ( Nigeria,Uganda)

Post by sameerph »

jayakris wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 11:50 am And Vasisht did get inspired by the others to pull an upset!!!... What is that, THREE seeds upset by our guys??? Whoa...
Yes, that is quite rare to see anywhere abroad at any level and none of these 3 guys who got the upsets are in our top 15 ranked players.
jayakris wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 11:50 am
That puts six Indians in the second round! (seven, if you want to count a New Zealand guy who has an Indian name)
There was in interesting story about this New Zeland guy with Indian origin a year back. I searched for it and got the article -

After cricket, Indian flavour in New Zealand’s tennis

Interesting what his mother is saying -
As parents we have been working hard on his game and making sure he gets the best. But the national body refuses to support the sport. Ajeet had more potential than his singles opponent Alexie Popyrin but he lost the match. The Australian national tennis body grooms such young players well but New Zealand lack in this sport,” said Madhu, who visits Punjab often and is very impressed with how the All India Tennis Association (AITA) pushes its players.

“I have still not given up on my Indian passport. A decision on moving to India will be made if required for Ajeet’s future. Maybe he can blossom under AITA. Right now we are focusing on getting sponsors for Ajeet,” said Madhu.
So, she think AITA is better than New Zeleand tennis federation. :p
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Re: African ITF Series April-May 2018 ( Nigeria,Uganda)

Post by jayakris »

It is indeed puzzling (I don't know what other words can describe it) to see 4 Indians upsetting (going by rankings) guys from Spain, Russia, Argentina, and Serbia in the first round there!! Did Uganda import linesmen from India?? :) .... Whoa!!!

Thanks Sameer, for the info on Ajeet Rai.
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Re: African ITF Series April-May 2018 ( Nigeria,Uganda)

Post by bujilover »

jayakris wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 3:56 pm It is indeed puzzling (I don't know what other words can describe it) to see 4 Indians upsetting (going by rankings) guys from Spain, Russia, Argentina, and Serbia in the first round there!! Did Uganda import linesmen from India?? :) .... Whoa!!!

Thanks Sameer, for the info on Ajeet Rai.
Well, other than Jayesh Pungliya's opponent, none of the other players are ranked higher enough to be called upset-worthy opponents, but I agree if one goes purely by rankings, they are upsets. A lot of our younger players like Aryan, Jayesh, etc., are clearly under-ranked as they struggle to find sponsors to play more tournaments outside India even though they have the game to challenge these routine ITF-level players and end up playing AITA tournaments that offer low prize money.
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Re: African ITF Series April-May 2018 ( Nigeria,Uganda)

Post by VReddy »

sameerph wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 3:24 pm
jayakris wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 11:50 am And Vasisht did get inspired by the others to pull an upset!!!... What is that, THREE seeds upset by our guys??? Whoa...
Yes, that is quite rare to see anywhere abroad at any level and none of these 3 guys who got the upsets are in our top 15 ranked players.
jayakris wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 11:50 am
That puts six Indians in the second round! (seven, if you want to count a New Zealand guy who has an Indian name)
There was in interesting story about this New Zeland guy with Indian origin a year back. I searched for it and got the article -

After cricket, Indian flavour in New Zealand’s tennis

Interesting what his mother is saying -
As parents we have been working hard on his game and making sure he gets the best. But the national body refuses to support the sport. Ajeet had more potential than his singles opponent Alexie Popyrin but he lost the match. The Australian national tennis body grooms such young players well but New Zealand lack in this sport,” said Madhu, who visits Punjab often and is very impressed with how the All India Tennis Association (AITA) pushes its players.

“I have still not given up on my Indian passport. A decision on moving to India will be made if required for Ajeet’s future. Maybe he can blossom under AITA. Right now we are focusing on getting sponsors for Ajeet,” said Madhu.
So, she think AITA is better than New Zeleand tennis federation. :p

We discussed him a bit in the past on this thread: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=218961&p=4377752&h ... t#p4377752
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