M15 ITF India (Kolkata, Gurugram) Mar 9-22

[jayakris]

First leg of the two week Indian M15 sequence started today with qualies at Kolkata. On clay at Kolkata and on Hardcourt at Gurugram.

Entry list at M15 Kolkata: Dennis Uspensky (USA,629), Manish Sureshkumar (IND,657), Benjamin Dhoe (BEL,661), Arjun Kadhe (IND,668), Eric Vanshelboim (UKR,804), Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (IND,812), Aryan Goveas (IND,861), Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam (IND,896), Rishab Agarwal (IND,924), S D Prajwal Dev (IND,954), Dhruv Sunish (IND,955), Maxime Mora (FRA,995), Anirudh Chandrasekar (IND,1025), Lucas Renard (SWE,1082), Li-Wei Tan (TPE,1111), Niklas Schell (GER,1155), Vinayak Sharma Kaza (IND,1167), Nitin Kumar Sinha (IND,1182), (Special Exempt), (Special Exempt)
NEXT IN: Rishi Reddy (IND,1186), Dalwinder Singh (IND,1225), N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,1284), Kunal Anand (IND,1290),Chandril Sood (IND,1297)

Nice to see a smattering of 7 decent foreign players in the list. A rare entry from USA, if the top seed hasn't withdrawn. Looks like Rishi, Dalwinder and VSP made the main draw.

Qualifying results, M15 Kolkata (Sunday)
Yugal BANSAL (IND) d. [1] Kunal ANAND (IND), 62 61
[10] Gokul SURESH (IND) d. Lakshya GUPTA (IND), 60 26 [5-10]
[2] Chandril SOOD (IND) d. Ajay Pruthvi NEMAKAL (IND), 60 60
[13] Suraj R PRABODH (IND) d. Tarun Anirudh CHILAKALAPUDI (IND), 60 60
(WC) Raghav JAISINGHANI (IND) d. [3] Jatin DAHIYA (IND), 62 64
[12] Digvijay Pratap SINGH (IND) d. (WC) Dheeraj KODANCHA SRINIVASAN (IND), 61 62
[4] Prithvi SEKHAR (IND) d. Lakshit SOOD (IND), 64 64
[16] Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) d. (WC) Anvit BENDRE (IND), 61 62
(WC) Bharath Nishok KUMARAN (IND) d. [5] Bang Shuo YIN (TPE), 76(3) 62
Vasisht CHERUKU (IND) d. [14] Tushar MADAN (IND), 60 62
Jagmeet SINGH (IND) d. [6] Yash CHAURASIA (IND), 63 63
[11] Taha KAPADIA (IND) d. Yash YADAV (IND), 75 62
(WC) Sai Karteek Reddy GANTA (IND) d. [7] Gunjan JADHAV (IND), 64 64
[15] Arjun MAHADEVAN (IND) d. Arpit SHARMA (IND), 63 75
[8] Siddharth VISHWAKARMA (IND) d. (WC) Parikshit SOMANI (IND), 61 64
[9] Anurag NENWANI (IND) d. Amit BENIWAL (IND), 61 61

This is at the South Club in Kolkata. I think it is the Indian clay, which is usually a harder, sandy surface. Maybe it bothered some guys, seeing 5 of the top seven seeds falling in the qualifying Q1.

[sameerph]

Good to finally see some futures in India. We had 0 futures in India in 2019 (heard mainly due to stupid,decision to temple ATP points for futures which was reversed later). There was a time only 3-4 years back when we had about 15 or so futures in a year.

Hope we are able to add a few more later in the year.

[jayakris]

Yeah, hopefully we will see some more futures later. Actually these two futures caught me by surprise - as I was not paying attention! Suddenly saw the futures in the calendar and went, "oh... nice!" .... I hope they will do some $25K versions with more points available, but these two are good for a few Indians like Manish, Arjun, Niki, Aryan, etc to make a mark. At least they get to play some matches, for a change, and don't have to find money to go to places like Tunisia, Egypt and Thailand.

[PKBasu]

Good to see a Futures tournament in India, but why the hell are they playing on clay at the South Club? I remember they had a junior Grade 3 tournament on clay there a couple of years ago (I remember watching one of the highest seeds from Latin America practice while I chatted with Sarat Bose’s grandson; Sarat Bose, Netaji’s elder brother, had a home overlooking South Club, so the family are all tennis fans and players).

South Club should unashamedly host tournaments on grass. There is no reason to give into the fad of clay and hard courts.

[jayakris]

Final qualifying results:

[10] Gokul SURESH (IND) d. Yugal BANSAL (IND), 64 63
[13] Suraj R PRABODH (IND) d. [2] Chandril SOOD (IND), 61 63
[12] Digvijay Pratap SINGH (IND) d. (WC) Raghav JAISINGHANI (IND), 64 63
[4] Prithvi SEKHAR (IND) d. [16] Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND), 64 60
(WC) Bharath Nishok KUMARAN (IND) d. Vasisht CHERUKU (IND), 36 63 [14-12]
[11] Taha KAPADIA (IND) d. Jagmeet SINGH (IND), 64 61
(WC) Sai Karteek Reddy GANTA (IND) d. [15] Arjun MAHADEVAN (IND), 76(2) 62
[8] Siddharth VISHWAKARMA (IND) d. [9] Anurag NENWANI (IND), 63 766(8)

[jayakris]

Main Draw

[1] Dennis USPENSKY (USA) vs Niklas SCHELL (GER)
Nitin Kumar SINHA (IND) vs (WC) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND)
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) vs Anirudh CHANDRASEKAR (IND)
[5] Eric VANSHELBOIM (UKR) vs (Q) Gokul SURESH (IND)
[4] Arjun KADHE (IND) vs (Q) Prithvi SEKHAR (IND)
(Q) Suraj R PRABODH (IND) vs (Q) Bharath Nishok KUMARAN (IND)
Lucas RENARD (SWE) vs (Q) Sai Karteek Reddy GANTA (IND)
[7] Aryan GOVEAS (IND) vs S D Prajwal DEV (IND)
[8] Rishab AGARWAL (IND) vs Dalwinder SINGH (IND)
(Q) Taha KAPADIA (IND) vs (WC) Ishaque EQBAL (IND)
Maxime MORA (FRA) vs (Q) Siddharth VISHWAKARMA (IND)
[3] Benjamin DHOE (BEL) vs (WC) Anurag AGARWAL (IND)
[6] Niki KALIYANDA POONACHA (IND) vs Rishi REDDY (IND)
Li-Wei TAN (TPE) vs (WC) Faisal QAMAR (IND)
Dhruv SUNISH (IND) vs Abhinav Sanjeev SHANMUGAM (IND)
[2] Manish SURESHKUMAR (IND) vs (Q) Digvijay Pratap SINGH (IND)

[Dinesh]

We used to do this winner prediction for Indian tournaments. Time to give it a go again.

R1:

UPSENKY
VARDHAN
KAZA
VANSHELBOM

KADHE
PRABHODH
RENARD
DEV

SINGH
KAPADIA
VISHWAKARMA
DHOE

POONACHA
TAN
SHANMUGAM
SURESHKUMAR

R2

VARDHAN (!)
VANSHELBOM
PRABODH
DEV

SINGH
VISHWAKARMA
POONACHA
SHANMUGAM (!)

QF

VANSHELBOM
PRABODH
VISHWAKARMA
POONACHA

SF
VANSHELBOM
POONACHA

F
VANSHELBOM

I love to gamble on underdogs lol.

[jayakris]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Arjun will get upset by Prithvi Sekhar. Just a weird hunch. And I like your call on Niki going to the final !!

[jayakris]

Today's R1 scores:

Nitin Kumar SINHA (IND) d. (WC) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND), 57 62 30 Ret.
[5] Eric VANSHELBOIM (UKR) d. (Q) Gokul SURESH (IND), 60 64
[7] Aryan GOVEAS (IND) d. S D Prajwal DEV (IND), 64 76(4)
[3] Benjamin DHOE (BEL) d. (WC) Anurag AGARWAL (IND), 61 61
[6] Niki KALIYANDA POONACHA (IND) d. Rishi REDDY (IND), 61 76(4)
(WC) Faisal QAMAR (IND) d. Li-Wei TAN (TPE), 64 75
Abhinav Sanjeev SHANMUGAM (IND) d. Dhruv SUNISH (IND), 67(4) 76(11) 62

Shanmugam had to come back from the brink to justify the faith Dinesh had in him, but Vishnu's body didn't hold up!!

[suresh]

Sorry Dinesh. I was too busy at work to give my prediction. Will join next week.

[PKBasu]

Full R1 singles results:

[1] Dennis USPENSKY (USA) l. Niklas SCHELL (GER) 36 06
Nitin Kumar SINHA (IND) d. (WC) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) 57 62 30 (retd)
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) d. Anirudh CHANDRASEKAR (IND) 75 64
[5] Eric VANSHELBOIM (UKR) d. (Q) Gokul SURESH (IND) 60 64
[4] Arjun KADHE (IND) d. (Q) Prithvi SEKHAR (IND) 64 62
(Q) Suraj R PRABODH (IND) d. (Q) Bharath Nishok KUMARAN (IND) 60 63
Lucas RENARD (SWE) d. (Q) Sai Karteek Reddy GANTA (IND) 76(3) 64
[7] Aryan GOVEAS (IND) d. S D Prajwal DEV (IND) 64 76(4)
[8] Rishab AGARWAL (IND) l. Dalwinder SINGH (IND) 46 46
(Q) Taha KAPADIA (IND) d. (WC) Ishaque EQBAL (IND) 36 61 62
Maxime MORA (FRA) d. (Q) Siddharth VISHWAKARMA (IND) 76 63
[3] Benjamin DHOE (BEL) d. (WC) Anurag AGARWAL (IND) 61 61
[6] Niki KALIYANDA POONACHA (IND) d. Rishi REDDY (IND) 61 76(4)
Li-Wei TAN (TPE) l. (WC) Faisal QAMAR (IND) 36 57
Dhruv SUNISH (IND) l. Abhinav Sanjeev SHANMUGAM (IND) 67 76 62
[2] Manish SURESHKUMAR (IND) d. (Q) Digvijay Pratap SINGH (IND) 64 64

No joy for Jay's prediction! Arjun Kadhe won easily.

[PKBasu]

Doubles quarter-final line-up:

[QF] 1-Arjun Kadhe/Vishnu Vardhan vs. Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam/Nitin K Sinha (all India)
[QF] 3-Anirudh Chandrasekhar/Niki Kaliyandi Poonacha vs. Vinayak Sharma Kaza/Manish Sureshkumar (all India)
[QF] Aryan Goveas/Dhruv Sunish (IND/IND) vs. 4-Raheel Manji/Kelsey Stevenson (CAN/CAN)
[QF] Benjamin Dhoe/Maxime Mora (BEL/FRA) vs. Jatin Dahiya/Dalwinder Singh (IND/IND)

The only upset in R1 was Jatin/Dalwinder beating 2-VSP/Vanshelboim 26 63 10-5

[jayakris]

No joy for Jay's prediction! Arjun Kadhe won easily.

Yeah. Good to see Arjun not screwing it up due to any problem with the surface or anything.

We are assured of 4 Indians in the QF and 1 in the SFas of now. 11 in the R2. Let's hope for 6 in the QF.

[PKBasu]

Yes, the surface wasn't Arjun's friend, but he pulled through nonetheless. The pairing of him and Vishnu is interesting.
But it does make me angry that the South Club is hosting tournaments on clay. They have all three surfaces, but it is their grass courts that made South Club famous. Just get back on to the grass!

[jayakris]

It is just painful to see the South club do clay events, though they have done some clay events in the past. But when they haven't conducted a grass event recently and are doing a clay event instead, that just bothers me too.