ITF Junior Circuit 2022- India

[Dinesh]

Shruti also has entered the $15K Futures in India using the junior exempt category, so this upcoming tour will be a good exposure for her while building her game for the junior slams.

[sameerph]

Latest updated junior rankings after 3 weeks of higher level tournaments in India-

Boys- Aman Dahiya is ranked 62 and would be very close to getting the slam main draws. He has some points to defend in Feb/March. So, needs a couple of good tournaments to confirm his place in FO/Wilmbledon main draws. Below him is Chirag Duhan ranked 83, 5 more players ranked between 100 and 150- Yuvan Nandal, Saheb Sodhi, Denim Yadav, Rushil Khosla and Manas Dhamne. All of them need couple of really good tournament to get into slam contention. Of course, Yuvan Nandal has 1 more year eligibility after this year, Rushil has 2 more and Manas 3 more- so they have time to get into slams.

Girls- Shruti Ahalawat is ranked 69, she again can get into at least grand slam qualies this year if not main draw. Suhita Maruri is ranked 103, Vaishnavi Adkar is ranked 123. Shruti is youngest one among our top 3 and has 2 more years of junior eligibiity after this year.

[sameerph]

This week at J5 in Indore, 14 year old Krish Tyagi won the boys singles title. He also lost in doubles final. Another one to keep an eye on.

Girls singles title went to 16 year old Chahana Budhbhatti.

[sameerph]

This week ITF junior circuit returned to India with 3 back to back J5 tournaments starting with Gurugram this week.

Boys singles title was won by 14 year old Hitesh Chauhan. He had also reached semi final in Srilanka in January. So, he looks to be another one to keep an eye on.

Girls single title went to 16 year old Laxmi Prabha.

[sameerph]

This week in Dehardun J5 , boys singles title went to 16 year old Cahir Warik, appears like a new name. But, more significant is 14 year old Rethin Pranav made the final. Have read about him as one for the future and he has made the SF and F in last 2 weeks which is good for a 14 year old.

Girls singles title went again to 16 year old Laxmi Prabha. Back to back titles for her.

[sameerph]

Last week at Bhilai J5, boys singles title went to 17 year old Akarsh Gaonkar and girls singles title to India-American 16 year old Saina Deshpande.

This week at Madurai J5, boys singles title for 14 year old Rethin Pranav, girls title to 16 year old Laxmi Prabha, third consecutive title for her in 3 weeks that she played in this series.

SF, F and title for Rethin in 3 weeks that he played here. One to keep an eye on.

[jayakris]

The ITF junior circuit is on with 2 events in India. Chennai J4 this week and Hyderabad J4 next week.

This week, on the boys' side, top seed Aman Dahia (18 years), 6th seed Rethin Pranav Senthilkumar (15), 5th seed Krish Tyagi (15) and 7th seed Pranav Karthik (17) are in the semis. Pranav Karthik took out the 2nd seed Denim Yadav (18) in the QFs. Third seed Bhushan Haobam and 4th seed Dakh Prasad had lost earlier. Sameer had said above that Rethin may be one to watch for. He is continuing to do well.

On the girls' side, top seed Suhitha Maruri (16), 4th seed Sonal Patel (17), qualifier Harshini Nagaraj (15), and 2nd seed Madhurima Sawant (16) are in the semis.

The story so far has been the young girl Harshini Nagaraj. This is only her 5th junior ITF event (she played the four J5s early in the year, making a QF), so ranked in the 2000s. She had to qualify in with 3 wins, but proceeded to take out the 3rd seed Lakshmi Prabha Arunkumar (a talented player herself) in the R1, and then the 5th seed Ruma Gaikaiwari in the QF, to make the SF against the 2nd seed now.

[sameerph]

Yes, Rethin Pranav and Krish Tyagi are the ones to watch out for as I mentioned earlier in this thread. Last week under 18 claycourt nationals was played in Chennai too where Krish beat Rethin in the SF in 3 close sets and then beat top seed Denim Yadav in the final to take the title. Aman Dahiya is 18 though and top ranked Indian, so not sure if Rethin can overcome him.

Nothing much to be excited about girls field - 16, 17 year olds doing well at J4/J5 level is not that exciting. Maybe new girl Harshini is the one to watch.

[jayakris]

Yes, on the girls' side. By 14 and 15, we generally get a sense these days. At 16, they better be inside top-100, for us to get excited. Harshini has simply not played much yet, so she gets the benefit of the doubt and we can think of perhaps choosing to be cautiously excited

[sameerph]

In Chennai J4, Rethin Pranav beat the top seed Aman Dahiya to reach the final where he will meet 17 year old Pranav Karthik. This kid Pranav Karthik appears a new name for me, but just saw his activity and he has played all over the place in Europe and Africa in last few months. Not much success but that may have paid off now.

In girls, final will be top 2 seeds- Suhitha Maruri (16) and Madhurima Sawant (16) .

[sameerph]

17 year old Pranav Karthik wins title beating Rethin Pranav in the final. His first title. Maybe he is a late bloomer.

16 year old Suhitha beat fellow 16 year old Madhurima Sawant in 3 sets to win the title. Her second singles title.

[jayakris]

Here is the sports start article on last week's finals at the Chennai J4 (apparently some matches were moved to from clay courts to hard courts due to rain)... Pranav is training in Spain at the Global Tennis Team Academy in Mallorca, Spain. Suhitha Maruri (from Chandigarh, with a talented younger sister too, iirc) trains at the Bopanna academy in Bengaluru.

[jayakris]

The Hyderabad J4 is on this week.

Boys -- #1 Denim, Tarun Korwar, #4 Krish, #3 Rethin, Debashish Sahoo, Venkat Rishi Batlanki (USA), #6 Pranav and #2 Bushan Haobam are in the QFs in draw order.

Girls -- #1 Suhitha, Rishitha Basireddy, #3 Sonal, Suryanshi, Tamanna Takoria, #4 Ruma, Harshini, #2 Madhurima are in QFs. The top four seeds are alive so far in the girls section too.

[jayakris]

At the Hyderabad J4:

Tarun Korwar upset the top seed Denim Yadav, sort of as expected, 76 62... 5th seed Rethin retired early in the 3rd set against 4th seed Kriish. Unseeded 15 year old U.S. kid Venkat Rishi Batlanki beat Debasis Sahu and reached SF (Venkat had upset the 3rd seed Bushan haobahm last week, before retiring against Kriish in the QF; and he has upset 3rd seed Daksh Prasad this week too). Venkat takes on Pranav karthik next. On the girls side, it is all went by seeding yesterday.

[SF] (4) Kriish Tyagi vs Tarun Korwar .... [SF] (6) Pranav Karthik vs Venkat Rishi Batlanki (USA)
[SF] (1) Suhitha Maruri vs (3) Sonal Patil .... [SF] (2) Madhurima Sawant vs (4) Ruma Gaikaiwari

[jayakris]

At the Hyderabad J4 today,

[SF] (4) Kriish Tyagi -15 (IND,421) d. Tarun Korwar -17 (IND,1045), 36 76(4) 64
[SF] (6) Pranav Karthik -17 (IND,455) d. Venkat Rishi Batlanki -15 (USA,997), 64 62

[SF] (1) Suhitha Maruri -16 (IND,162) d. (3) Sonal Patil -17 (IND,400), 62 63
[SF] (4) Ruma Gaikaiwari (IND) -16 (IND,475) d. (2) Madhurima Sawant -16 (IND,328), 36 75 76(2)