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

[jaydeep]

Can you update the thread title to include Zimbabwe also? There is a series of $15K Futures starting next week in Zimbabwe and we have plenty of players in MD and QD, 14 in total.

Updated.

[sameerph]

This week's first round results -

[R1] (Q) Vasisht CHERUKU (IND,1577) l. (1) Ivan NEDELKO (RUS,256) 26 26
[R1] Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,1155) d. Anton CHEKHOV (RUS,1590) 26 61 64
[R1] (6) Kunal ANAND (IND,1095) d. (WC) David ORINGA (UGA,NR) 61 60
[R1] (8) S D Prajwal DEV (IND,1121) d. (Q) Sylvester EMMANUEL (NGR,NR) 62 60

Next,

[R1] Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,1155) vs. (1) Ivan NEDELKO (RUS,256)
[R1] (6) Kunal ANAND (IND,1095) vs. Arturs LAZDINS (LAT,1377)
[R1] (8) S D Prajwal DEV (IND,1121) vs. Giovani SAMAHA (LBN,1228)

[bujilover]

Great chance for Prajwal to get another QF result.

[PKBasu]

Ranjeet got to play the namesake of the great playwright (author of "The Cherry Orchard" and "The Seagull") in R1 , now he plays the top seed who seems to be seeking cheap points in Africa.

Good chance for Kunal Anand and Prajwal Dev to gather some more points. I hope one of them goes all the way this week.

[sameerph]

Kunal and Prajwal reached the QF.

[R2] Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,1155) l. (1) Ivan NEDELKO (RUS,256) 26 46
[R2] (6) Kunal ANAND (IND,1095) d. Arturs LAZDINS (LAT,1377) 64 63
[R2] (8) S D Prajwal DEV (IND,1121) d. Giovani SAMAHA (LBN,1228) 63 64

Next,

[QF] (6) Kunal ANAND (IND,1095) vs. (4) Tyler LU (USA,968)

[QF] (8) S D Prajwal DEV (IND,1121) vs. (2) David PEREZ SANZ (ESP,438)

[sameerph]

Both the Indians lost in the QF although Kunal put up a very good fight.

[QF] (6) Kunal ANAND (IND,1095) l. (4) Tyler LU (USA,968) 46 76(0) 57

[QF] (8) S D Prajwal DEV (IND,1121) l. (2) David PEREZ SANZ (ESP,438) 46 57

Overall, decent trip for Prajwal Dev who will turn 22 in a couple of days time. Need to keep an eye on him to see if he can breakout in next couple of years.

[sameerph]

In Zimbabwe F1 futures, there were lowly ranked ( or unranked) Indian players playing. But, Aniruddh Chandrashekhar was the only one one who progressed to second round beating a South African qualifier. He plays 6th seeded Swiss player next.

[sameerph]

The only remaining Indian Aniruddha Chandrashekhar got beaten in straight sets of Zimbabwe futures second round.

Next week onwards, we have a bigger contingent with Aryan Goveas and Jayesh Pungaliya entering as seeds and Dhurv Sunish/Niki Poonacha also playing.

[PKBasu]

Hopefully, the Indian contingent will do a bit better this week in Zimbabwe. We are assured of one Indian in R2, because Niki Poonacha and Anirudh Chandrasekhar play each other in R1 (before running in to the top seed in R2).
Aryan Goveas plays a Spanish qualifier in R1, Dhruv Sunish and Anurag Nenwani play local wildcards, and only Jayesh Pungliya plays a seed in R1, 6th seeded Frederik Press (GER, 814), surely a good prospect for an "upset".

Shockingly, NOT ONE of the 10 Indians in the qualifiers were able to win a match against a non-Indian (one beat an Indian, then lost in the next round). These folks seem to be there as tourists, although there are some familiar names among the losers.

[sameerph]

Disappointing show by our players in Zimbabwe with none making it to QF.

R1
Niki KALIYANDA POONACHA (IND) 6-4 7-5 Anirudh CHANDRASEKAR (IND)
Jorge BLANCO GUADALUPE (ESP) 6-0 7-5 Aryan GOVEAS (IND) [4]
Courtney John LOCK (ZIM) 7-6(0) 6-3 Dhruv SUNISH (IND)
Anurag NENWANI (IND) 6-2 6-3 Muzi SIBANDA (ZIM)
Frederik PRESS (GER) [6] 6-2 7-6(5) Jayesh PUNGLIYA (IND)

R2
Matias Franco DESCOTTE (ARG) [1] 6-2 7-5 Niki KALIYANDA POONACHA (IND)
Connor FARREN (USA) [7] 6-1 7-6(3) Anurag NENWANI (IND)

[PKBasu]

Another awful week for the large Indian contingent in Zimbabwe.

[jaydeep]

Wasted African safari for our players.

[bujilover]

Better results this week in R1. Excellent wins for young 18 yo. Dhruv and Niki.

AT Zimbabwe F3 Futures

Benjamin LOCK (ZIM,498) [1] 6-2 6-3 Anurag NENWANI (IND,1391)
Anirudh CHANDRASEKAR (IND,1217) 3-2 Retired Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND,UNR)
Jayesh PUNGLIYA (IND,1038) [5] 6-1 3-6 6-3 Mark CHIGAAZIRA (ZIM,1318)
Dhruv SUNISH (IND,1389) 6-2 6-4 Darko BOJANOVIC (BIH,1031) [4]
Niki KALIYANDA POONACHA (IND,1369) 5-7 6-1 6-2 Siphosothando MONTSI (RSA,1201) [7]

[PKBasu]

Now to win some R2 singles matches for a change!

[sameerph]

2 Indians are thru to the QF.

At $15K Zimbabwe F3 Futures

[R2] Anirudh CHANDRASEKAR (IND,1217) d. (5) Jayesh PUNGLIYA (IND,1038) 76(4) 62
[R2] Dhruv SUNISH (IND,1389) d. (Q) Jean ERASMUS (NAM,NR) 61 64
[R2] Niki KALIYANDA POONACHA (IND,1369) l. (WC) Mehluli Don Ayanda SIBANDA (ZIM,1168)

Good to see two 19 year olds Aniruddh and Dhruv making the QF.

Next,

[QF] Anirudh CHANDRASEKAR (IND,1217) vs. (1) Benjamin LOCK (ZIM,438)

[QF] Dhruv SUNISH (IND,1389) vs. (WC) Mehluli Don Ayanda SIBANDA (ZIM,1168)