ITF M15 Indore,Delhi,Gurugram-November 2021

[PKBasu]

3 Indians through to the QF this week:

[R2] 4-Manish Sureshkumar (IND, 688) d. Alexis Canter (GBR, 1141; CH 773) 36 62 64
[R2] WC-Ishaque Eqbal (IND, 1697) d. Paras Dahiya (IND, 1359) 62 46 61
[R2] Nitin Kumar Sinha (IND, 1130) d. 8-S.D.Prajwal Dev (IND, 973) 64 36 76(8)

[PKBasu]

3 more Indian defeats in R2 as well now, while Sid Rawat has won the first set by a close 76(8) score and then broken at the start of the second set. But the bad news first, although all 3 Singhs lost to higher-ranked players:

[R2] Nicolas Tepmahc (FRA,1105) d. Q-Karan Singh (IND,1947) 64 64
[R2] Zsombor Velcz (HUN,1059) d. WC-Digvijay Pratap Singh (IND,1679) 76(2) 64
[R2] 6-Julian Cash (GBR,936) d. PR-Karunuday Singh (IND, 1497) 64 63

Sid now serving at 3-0 in the second set, and his Swedish opponent (I assume) has taken a medical time out.
Update: Sid went up 5-0, but then was broken surprisingly at 15. So it is 76(8) 51 now, Nordquist to serve.

[PKBasu]

So, Sid breaks again to end it quickly, and a fourth Indian makes the QF (where Sid will play another Indian, Ishaque):

[R2] 1-Sidharth Rawat (IND, 580) d. Arvid Nordquist (SWE, 1174) 76(8) 61

[PKBasu]

Gurugram QF line-up:

1-Sidharth Rawat vs WC-Ishaque Eqbal
4-Manish Sureshkumar vs Zsombor Velcz (HUN)
3-Dusty Boyer (USA) vs 6-Julian Cash (GBR)
Nitin Kumar Sinha vs. Nicolas Tepmahc (FRA)

I expect there will be 3 Indians in the SF

[jayakris]

Nice win for the Kolkata guy (if I remember correctly) Ishaque Iqbal... I think he is a fairly talented player. But Sid will be a tough match-up for him.

[PKBasu]

I saw him play Sid Rawat in R1 last week in New Delhi. He is short (probably 5' 5" or a bit more) and skinny, but a talented player. He and Faisal Qamar were impressive in the doubles against Saketh-Vishnu as well. (Not sure if he is from Kolkata; Nitin Sinha is for sure).

[PKBasu]

Doubles SF line-up:

1-Yuki Bhambri/Saketh Myneni vs 3-Julian Cash/Zsombor Velcz (GBR/HUN)
4-Prajwal Dev/Rishi Reddy vs Rishab Agarwal/Theertha Macherla

Rishab and partner beat Manish and partner (who had beaten the second seeds Niki and partner in R1). The first match will effectively be the final.

[PKBasu]

I did something quite crazy today -- and it seems even more crazy after I've returned. I drove to the remote village plot 20 minutes by dirt track from the Gurgaon-Faridabad road to watch some of the Futures action. It was a 90 minute drive -- and I thought I was going to Gurgaon. But instead, I found myself driving past Gurugram, taking some wrong turnings because the GPRS-proposed route seemed so improbable, turning back immediately after (because the GPRS showed a sudden jump in the time to the destination) -- and this happened a few times, with U-turns increasingly difficult to make. Anyway, the complex (The Tennis Project, run by Vishal Uppal) is close to a boarding school, Asia's largest golf driving range, a riding school, etc., but set among villages and fields (including, inevitably, a cricket ground). The foreign players must have been flabbergasted by the route to the venue (taxis and Ubers are reluctant to come there, naturally!). The players' hotel was 6 Kms away, according to Manish.

Anyway the upshot was that I missed Manish's match and got to see just the end of Nitin's. But I got to watch Ishaque Eqbal play Sid Rawat -- for the second time! (I had also watched their R1 match last week, which Sid won 76 61).

Ishaque has a lethal forehand, strong double-handed backhand, excellent drop shot, lob and volley. The one thing missing from his game is a powerful serve (although he puts his small frame fully into the service motion). Sid was playing just as well as last week, but Ishaque had an extra dimension today -- clearly having improved over the course of the 3 weeks, helped by playing and practicing with good players over the 3 weeks. A few times, though, Ishaque was so confident of his shots that he (wrongly) questioned line-calls quite a few times (although saying "ma'am", and sometimes asking Sid in a friendly manner). In the end, the two youngsters from Kolkata have gone through to the singles semifinal this week in a competitive field. What I like about the 3-week run is that the competitiveness among the Indian players was intense, and the ones that improved most went through.

Manish was really looking exhausted and flushed after his loss. I asked him what is next, and he said he would be hunkering down to work on some aspects of his game and get ready for the next year.

[PKBasu]

Doubles results:

[SF] Yuki Bhambri/Saketh Myneni (IND/IND) d. 3-Julian Cash/Zsombor Velcz (GBR/HUN) 64 63
[SF] SD Prajwal Dev/Rishi Reddy d. Rishab Agarwal/Theertha Macherla 63 76(3)

I confirmed with Yuki before his doubles match that he will in fact be focusing on playing singles at the Australian Open next year. Unfortunately there is no Asia-Pacific wildcard play-off tournament this year.

[PKBasu]

Singles results:

[QF] 1-Sidharth Rawat (IND, 580) l. WC-Ishaque Eqbal (IND, 1697) 46 67(2)
[QF] Nitin Kumar Sinha (IND, 1171) d. Nicolas Tepmahc (FRA, 1105) 36 64 62
[QF] 4-Manish Sureshkumar (IND, 688) l. Zsombor Velcz (HUN, 1059) 46 63 46

Disappointing for Manish, especially that he couldn't consolidate his Indore victory. But good to see the Kolkata boys (neither a Bengali speaker ) go through to the SF.

Dusty Boyer won the slugfest with Julian Cash to also make the SF in 3 tough sets.

[PKBasu]

Both the Kolkata players were beaten in the singles SF today. Ishaque lost 36 36 to Velcz of Hungary -- a rather disappointing result against a player outside the top-1000. It seems Ishaque was exhausted after all the tough long matches, especially yesterday against Sid. Nitin, who almost always plays 3-setters, won the first set but lost the next two to 3rd seed Dusty Boyer of the US, the score being 64 36 46. Nitin came close to breaking Boyer at 3-5 in the second set but couldn't convert the BPs.

[PKBasu]

Yuki/Saketh have won the doubles title without dropping a set, but were given a tough fight in the second set of the final:

[F] 1-Yuki Bhambri/Saketh Myneni (IND/IND) d. 4-SD Prajwal Dev/Rishi Reddy 64 76(6)

[arjun2761]

Good to see Yuki and Saketh get the title! Baby step back for Yuki. Hopefully, he can come back strong and have at least a 1 year run in singles next year!

[PKBasu]

Singles live rankings for those who played the Futures:

Saketh (who didn't play singles in any of the 3 weeks) is now 559 (India #5), Sid Rawat is 564 (after his SF in New Delhi and QF in Gurugram), Manish Sureshkumar is 683 (title in Indore, QF in Gurugram), Niki Poonacha is 732, (Arjun Kadhe, who didn't play the India Futures, is the next ranked Indian at 772), Abhinav Shanmugam is 832, (Sriram Balaji is 908, not having played the Futures), the disappointing Rishab Agarwal and SD Prajwal Dev are 952 and 953. (Aussie youngster Philip Sekulic, unranked before these Futures, is at a career-high of 984, after making 2 finals and losing in R1 at Gurugram). Nitin Kumar Sinha is probably just outside the top-1000, with 12 ATP points (including 4 for making the Gurugram SF); the 1000-ranked player also has 12 ATP points.

[Rajiv]

Singles live rankings for those who played the Futures:

Saketh (who didn't play singles in any of the 3 weeks) is now 559 (India #5), Sid Rawat is 564 (after his SF in New Delhi and QF in Gurugram), Manish Sureshkumar is 683 (title in Indore, QF in Gurugram), Niki Poonacha is 732, (Arjun Kadhe, who didn't play the India Futures, is the next ranked Indian at 772), Abhinav Shanmugam is 832, (Sriram Balaji is 908, not having played the Futures), the disappointing Rishab Agarwal and SD Prajwal Dev are 952 and 953. (Aussie youngster Philip Sekulic, unranked before these Futures, is at a career-high of 984, after making 2 finals and losing in R1 at Gurugram). Nitin Kumar Sinha is probably just outside the top-1000, with 12 ATP points (including 4 for making the Gurugram SF); the 1000-ranked player also has 12 ATP points.

And a honourable mention for Dev Javia , who at the start of these Futures was ranked 1685 , and after some good wins at these Futures has jumped up to a CH of 1134 in the latest rankings.