European Challengers 2022

[sameerph]

Bala and Jeevan beat Arjun and his partner in the first round but lost in QF.

At the Challenger 80 in Banja Luka (hard), Bosnia-Herzegovina

[R1] (4) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) d. Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Fernando Romboli (BRA) 36 76(7) 10-5

[QF] (4) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l. Viktor Durasovic (NOR) / Otto Virtanen (FIN) 67(3) 57

[PKBasu]

At the Challenger Manacor, Spain:

[R1] 3-Yuki Bhambri/Saketh Myneni (IND/IND) d. Daniil Glinka/Karl Saar (EST/EST) 64 62

Next:

[QF] 3-Yuki Bhambri/Saketh Myneni (IND/IND) vs. Dmitry Popko/Kaichi Uchida (KAZ/JPN)

[PKBasu]

Yuki-Saketh march through to the SF:

[QF] 3-Yuki Bhambri/Saketh Myneni (IND/IND) d. Dmitry Popko/Kaichi Uchida (KAZ/JPN) 63 62

Saketh rises to a new career-high of 102, Yuki to a new doubles career-high of 117. Winning another round would take Saketh into the top-100. If they win the title this week, Saketh will rise to 98 and Yuki to 110 in doubles.

[arjun2761]

Yuki-Saketh are showing that they are in the very top tier of challenger doubles. Good luck to them as they need a few more challenger title wins to get into consideration for ATP level draws....

[Dinesh]

Welcome to top-100, Saketh Myneni!

Watched the entire match and did not think that our pair would turn this around as the energy was too low in the opening set and were trailing almost most of the second set as well, losing couple of key BP opportunities. Solid win!

[SF] (3) Yuki Bhambri/Saketh Myneni (IND/IND) d. (1) Marco Bortolotti/Sergio Martos Gornes (ITA/ESP), 26 76(5) (10-5)

Plays unseeded pair of Marek Gengel/Lukas Rosol in the final.

[arjun2761]

Also saw the super TB (which they won 10-5) and the last part of the second set. It was a very sloppy match with more errors than quality play from both teams. They should be happy to win without breaking their opponents even once. However, they won the points battle 72-68, so deserving winner! Good luck for the finals and hope they play a little better than they did here...

[vparam]

Nice STB win by our boys! We need Alex Lawson to lose his 2nd round doubles match at the US Open for Saki to be guaranteed a top 100 ranking.

[sameerph]

Anyway, there will be no official ranking update this Monday due to it being mid US open Monday. So, Saki-Yuki have another challenger to play next week where they can earn more points and of course if they win today's final, I guess Saketh's top 100 will be confirmed.

[sameerph]

And a dominating display by Yuki and Saki in the final to win yet another challenger title.

At Mallorca Challenger 80, Spain (Hard)

[F] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND) /Saketh Myneni (IND) d. Marek Gengel (CZE) / Lukas Rosol (CZE) 62 62

Did not watch today's match but must have played better winning in such a convincing way.

5th challenger title together this year by Yuki and Saki and they have 100% record in finals. Saketh is at #98 and Yuki at #110 in live rankings.

[jayakris]

Congrats Yukisaki, the Japanese-named latest double-headed monster from India!

[prasen9]

So, what do people think. Is Saketh the best partner among the Indian players for Yuki?

[sameerph]

So, what do people think. Is Saketh the best partner among the Indian players for Yuki?

I think RamK and Yuki will be better but who knows. Yuki and Saki have been so good at challenger level with so many comeback wins from losing positions. Maybe tempramentally they are better suited as a pair.

Let them play a few ATP events together (which they should be able to do if they win 2-3 more challenger titles) and see how they fare.

[sameerph]

Yuki and Saki are playing in Cassis Challenger in France next week where Arjun is playing together with Divij.

Today Arjun had a nice upset win in singles qualifying.

At Cassis Challenger 80, France (Hard)

[Q1] Arjun Kadhe (IND,529) d. (4) Philip Peliwo (CAN,357) 67(4) 62 62

Next,

[Q2] Arjun Kadhe (IND,529) vs. (8) Terrence Atmane (FRA,389)


Doubles

[R1] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND) / Saketh Myneni (IND) vs. Jason Taylor (AUS) / Brandon Walkin (AUS)

[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND) / Divij Sharan (IND) vs. (WC) Gabriel Debru (FRA) / Matteo Martineau (FRA)

[PKBasu]

I like the fact that Arjun hasn't given up on singles. At 28, he needs to keep trying, although he has never quite made the transition to regular Challenger singles play.

Yuki-Saketh have never won back-to-back Challenger doubles titles in consecutive weeks. But if they manage it this week, Saketh will rise to 89 and Yuki to 103 in the doubles rankings next Monday. Still not assured of making ATP250 draws regularly -- except in weeks when there are multiple ATP250s being played.

[PKBasu]

[Q2] Arjun Kadhe (IND,529) l. (8) Terrence Atmane (FRA,389) 46 26