[Tennis] Misc. Results for Indians abroad...

[Dinesh]

Maiden tour level semis for DK. His first serves and Luca’s forehand winners stole the show.

[VReddy]

Generally, yes. But, sometimes players have limitations and an upper bar. We cannot expect everyone to be a Sachin Tendulkar. I do not know much about this guy. If his current projection is to be an average singles player but maybe an elite doubles player, I would rather he focus on doubles. I am tired of all these journeymen who reach a rank of 300 or so and then get injured and falter. Don't need more of these. If that is his upper limit, then focus on doubles. If he has the tools and there is a 20% chance he can reach the top 200 or 100, then focus on singles by all means.

I would rather have a doubles top-30 than a singles top-300.

Aptly put, Prasen. He can be that generational doubles player - has all the tools - big serve, strong groundies, decent volleys. I am not sure if his body is prepared for the singles grind on the Futures tour for 2-3 yrs (he is already 24/25).

In doubles, he doesnt need that body and almost lowest pct risk of injuries. He can be a Grand Slam doubles player within a year in my opinion - where as singles top-250 might require several years of grinding while also hoping no injury comes his way.

[jayakris]

Aptly put, Prasen. He can be that generational doubles player - has all the tools - big serve, strong groundies, decent volleys. I am not sure if his body is prepared for the singles grind on the Futures tour for 2-3 yrs (he is already 24/25).

I am not sure of the groundies. He has strong groundies, but they are not necessarily solid yet -- because of accuracy issues. I don't think he can effortlessly hit it where he wants now, that is. He has the right instincts on where to hit though. He may get there in solidifying his groundies, maybe in his final year in college itself though - if so, he will be a top-10 player in this coming year. I expect him to be at least in the top-20 in college, and after 5 or 6 ITF events in summer, in top-750 by this time next summer. Then inside top-600 by end of 2025. After the early year Indian events, inside top-500 in early 2026. If he is not there in 18 to 24 months, it will be an indication that his groundies are not going to get good enough for the top pro levels. Or it will be an indication that his body is not holding up too (possibly from aches and pains connected to his knees or shoulder that only he may know about). In any event, I think he needs to be in the top-500 by mid-to-late 2026. If he is not, he should leave singles and go to doubles.

He only has 2, maximum 3, years to decide on pursuing singles. By at least the end of 2026, he should know. Then he shouldn't keep dreaming that things will magically change in singles with both the groundies becoming good enough and injuries staying away. Those things won't magically improve after age 27. If he were 21 or 22 now, he would have had more time to dream. He is 24+, so no dreaming. He has to live in the world of reality and he needs to decide in 2 to 3 years. He has one luxury that others don't have in making that decision though - of knowing that his run to the top-100 or top-50 of doubles is pretty much guaranteed. Others would continue dreaming of singles and wasting time, as they don't know if they can be top-100 in doubles. He probably already knows he can be topnotch in doubles - because, so can everybody else!

But my hunch now is that he will just break out by even early 2026 and will be in the singles top-200 already with a couple of challenger titles/finals or something out of the blue. Or a run at Winston-Salem next year, maybe with a main draw wildcard. A quick rise like with Nishesh or Tien (or Somdev at one time) - but maybe a little slower than them.

In his case, if good things are going to happen in singles, they will happen sooner than later. Because he has some big tools. That is my hunch.

I might just go ahead and make a thread for Suresh and move all these posts there soon.

[VReddy]

I am not sure of the groundies. He has strong groundies, but they are not necessarily solid yet -- because of accuracy issues. I don't think he can effortlessly hit it where he wants now, that is. He has the right instincts on where to hit though. He may get there in solidifying his groundies, maybe in his final year in college itself though - if so, he will be a top-10 player in this coming year. I expect him to be at least in the top-20 in college, and after 5 or 6 ITF events in summer, in top-750 by this time next summer. Then inside top-600 by end of 2025. After the early year Indian events, inside top-500 in early 2026. If he is not there in 18 to 24 months, it will be an indication that his groundies are not going to get good enough for the top pro levels.

In doubles, you are not in ralles of more than 3-4 strokes each. So you need more of that ball bashing rallies in doubles which can force that error at the net through sheer power. He has that.

For singles, you need the consistency to engage in long rallies - this am not sure.

[Atithee]

^^NEVER!

[jayakris]

In doubles, you are not in ralles of more than 3-4 strokes each. So you need more of that ball bashing rallies in doubles which can force that error at the net through sheer power. He has that.
For singles, you need the consistency to engage in long rallies - this am not sure.

He has the groundies for doubles, no doubt. You only hit one or two in a row. They don't need to be as accurate in doubles, which is also why.

[arjun2761]

Also, mobility and fitness are far more important in singles than in doubles. Given that he finished #57 in college rankings in singles (with a 25-16 record) versus in the top 3 of doubles, I suspect his ceiling in singles isn't that high.

NCAA singles players also don't do as well in singles compared to the NCAA players in doubles although the likes of Ben Shelton have succeeded recently but they also completely dominated college tennis.

[jayakris]

PKB has started the thread for DK Suresh. Not exactly as per our guidelines but who can stop PKB, who is already counting DK Suresh as the next grand slam semifinalist from Chennai?

Further discussion will be in the Dhakshineswar Suresh Ekambaram thread.

[sameerph]

Very good upset win by Madhurima Sawant in Spain W15.

At W15 Valladolid, ESP (Hard)

[R1] Madhurima Sawant (IND,1139) d. Danielle Daley (GBR,915) 76(1) 75

Next,

[R2] Madhurima Sawant (IND,1139) vs. Meritxell Teixido Garcia (ESP,NR)

[jayakris]

^^^ Forgot to update last week that Madhurima lost the R2 at the IYF W15 in Valladolid, Spain, to the Junior Exempt entry, Meritxell Teixido Garcia (ESP,NR) ranked #95 in the juniors in a close match 67(2) 57... The same JR player had beaten Saumya Vig (IND,1231) 64 06 62 in the R1... Madhurima also had a doubles R1 win with Min Liu of China, 64 64 over Patricia Rodriguez Carretero and Leire San Jose of Spain, before losing the QF to the third seeds, Celia Cervino Ruiz (ESP)/ Ana Filipa Santos (POR), 46 26

Also forgot to report on Tanisha Kashyap (IND,1192) at the ITF W15 in Monastir, Tunisia (Hard) last week. She beat Marija Semenistaja (LAT,ITF-534) in the R1, 64 20 RET, and then lost the R2 after a good fight against the 6th seed Arabella Koller (AUT,725), 36 64 26. Zeel was in the QF there but went down, as reported in her thread. Both are there for the Monastir W15 this week too. Tanisha plays Ruirui Zou (CHN,1035) and 4th seeded Zeel plays a TBD qualifier.

[jayakris]

Tanisha Kashyap, partnering Ruirui Zou whom she plays tomorrow in the singles R1 at the Monastir M15, won the doubles R1 today 63 64 over Dilana Rsovac (AUS) and Mirabelle Tahiri (USA). They play the top seeds next. Jennifer Luikham is back in Monastir, after a long 5-6 months break from pro matches (injury?), and had lost in the Q3 of singles. She won the doubles R1 with Prisha Vyas of USA, 63 64 over Yoana Moneva (BUL) and Wei Zheng (CHN). They play the second seeds next.

[Dinesh]

^^^ Tanisha/partner actually won 6-0 6-0.

[jayakris]

^^^ Mistyped. 63 64 was Jennifer's match. Yes. Double bagel for Tanisha/Zou. Actually I think a double bagel is rarer in doubles than in singles. Pretty good!

[jayakris]

Tanisha Kashyap (IND,1192) lost 06 06 to Ruirui Zou (CHN,1035) at the ITF W15 in Monastir, TUN. I think she must be having some physical ailment for her to lose like that... Maybe her doubles partner was still hungry for bakery items. So a double-bagel win in doubles with Zou followed by a double-bagel loss in singles to Zou, who does everything twice, and lives up to her first name... maybe

[Dinesh]

A bunch of Indians will be competing at the W15 Singapore ITF next week. Rutuja (#469) will be the #1 seed hoping to regain some of the ranking points she lost this year. Riya Bhatia, Soha Sadiq, Akanksha Dileep Nitture will be in the main draw as well. And 4 other players in the qualifying draw.