European Challengers 2022

[jayakris]

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

As seen very often, two good wins in a row is tough for our players

[jayakris]

At Cassis Challenger 80, France (Hard)

[R1] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) d. Jason Taylor (AUS)/ Brandon Walkin (AUS), 76(4) 62
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) d. (WC) Gabriel Debru (FRA)/ Matteo Martineau (FRA), 62 76(8)
So,
[QF] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND)

[PKBasu]

[QF] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) d. Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) 63 36 10-6

[sameerph]

They meet top seeds next.

At Cassis Challenger 80, France (Hard)

[SF] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs (1) Romain Arneodo (MON) / Albano Olivetti (FRA)

[sameerph]

They again tried to make a comeback but fell just short.

At Cassis Challenger 80, France (Hard)

[SF] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) l. (1) Romain Arneodo (MON) / Albano Olivetti (FRA) 36 64 8-10

Watched the second set and super tie break. Yuki had some great returns but Saketh played too many lose points which cost them the match.

[Dinesh]

Next week at Istanbul, we have Arjun Kadhe and Rishab Agarwal in the singles qualifying list, Purav/Divij, Anirudh/VSP are in the doubles list and I presume Arjun will find another random partner to sign in on-site. Good luck to our players!

[PKBasu]

Arjun Kadhe is the top seed in the doubles (with Fernando Romboli, BRA) and they have a bye into the second round (QF). Divij/Purav are the second seeds. Anirudh/VSP play Rishab Agarwal/partner in R1, and the winners will take on Arjun/Partner. So at least one Indian will be in the SF, but at most two (i.e., a complete pair, VSP/Anirudh) in the top half. If the second seeds make it to the SF, we could have 3 or 4 Indian players in the doubles SF. Let's go!!

Rishab and Divij lost in the singles qualifiers, but each won a set.

[sameerph]

3 Indian players are in doubles Semi finals in Istanbul.

At Istanbul Challenger 80 (Hard)

[R1] (1) Arjun Kadhe (IND) / Fernando Romboli (BRA) bye
[R1] (2) Purav Raja (IND) / Divij Sharan (IND) d. Berk Ilkel (TUR) / S Mert Ozdemir (TUR) 64 64
[R1] Anirudh Chandrasekar (IND) / N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) d. Rishab Agarwal (IND) / Adrian Oetzbach (GER)

[QF] (1) Arjun Kadhe (IND) / Fernando Romboli (BRA) d. Anirudh Chandrasekar (IND) / N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) 64 76(4)

[QF] (2) Purav Raja (IND) / Divij Sharan (IND) d. Alexandru Jecan (ROM) / Dan Alexandru Tomescu (ROM) 64 64

Next,

[SF] (1) Arjun Kadhe (IND) / Fernando Romboli (BRA) vs. Geoffrey Blancaneaux (FRA) / Laurent Lokoli (FRA)

[SF] (2) Purav Raja (IND) / Divij Sharan (IND) vs. Tuna Altuna (TUR) / Lorenzo Giustino (ITA)

[sameerph]

And all 3 Indian players will play the doubles final as per their seeding.

At Istanbul Challenger 80 (Hard)

[SF] (1) Arjun Kadhe (IND) / Fernando Romboli (BRA) d. Geoffrey Blancaneaux (FRA) / Laurent Lokoli (FRA) Walkover

[SF] (2) Purav Raja (IND) / Divij Sharan (IND) d. Tuna Altuna (TUR) / Lorenzo Giustino (ITA) 63 64

[PKBasu]

Great run by Divij/Purav, who have made the final without dropping a set. Nice to have an all-Indian vs half-Indian pair in the final!

[sameerph]

And Divij-Purav won the title beating Arjun and his partner.

At Istanbul Challenger 80 (Hard)

[F] (2) Purav Raja (IND) / Divij Sharan (IND) d. (1) Arjun Kadhe (IND) / Fernando Romboli (BRA) 64 36 10-8

This is Divij's first challenger title since pre covid days i.e 2019 and their first title together since 2017. Divij will move back inside top 150 again with his live ranking of 148 and Purav up a few spots with a live ranking of 142.

We now 9 players inside top 150 doubles rankings.

[arjun2761]

We have good depth in doubles but we need some to move into the top 40 in doubles now that Bops seems to be on the decline. Yuki and Ramk have the best shot to get there but both will need to find the right partners to get there.

[sameerph]

RamK is playing in a challenger in Romania on clay. And I was about to start to roast him for his scheduling from hard to clay but then realised that are no hard court challengers in Europe this week and so he had no option if he wanted to play somewhere this week.

But, he runs into top seed and current top 75 players in first round. So, no chance. He is playing doubles too and Arjun is playing here too with his Brazlilian partner and VSP/Aniruddh also play here.

At Sibiu Challenger 80, Romania (Clay)

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,277) vs. (1) Federico Coria (ARG,71)

[Atithee]

With Ramkumar, there’s always a chance. Or, at least hope.

[Dinesh]

^^^ Not against Coria, not in this surface!