European Challengers 2023

[Sanjay]

Oh my what the hell happened??
Just checked the score, SN won 6-0 in the 2nd set and then lost the 3rd.

Just see the post above yours. Sumit had an injury break at 1-0 in third set and after that Sumit's game was not the same and he won only 1 of next 7 games. Also Valkusz is pretty damn good. He thrashed the top seed Dougaz 61 61 in the QF later today.

Just our luck.

[Sanjay]

So, not physically fine. There goes that patch of good form from Sunil ... Now we wait to see when he gets back to it.

Is "Sunil" some inside joke that I am not aware of?
Yeksplain saar.

[jayakris]

That looks like it might have been a cramp. Hopefully nothing more serious like a hamstring or something that would make him unable to play with the current top form for at least a couple of months.

[jayakris]

Is "Sunil" some inside joke that I am not aware of?
Yeksplain saar.

I have no idea why I typed Sunil twice for Sumit recently! ... It is not like there is some some famous tennis player Sunil that is in my brain. Even a hardly-famous Sunil Sipaeya hasn't played in over a decade... and no cricketer, even Sunil Gavaskar, is ever in my brain. So why is Sumit becoming Sunil??

[usaindia]

Mate sent the first seed home 6-1 6-1 in the QF. Superb form!

He is in finals

[sameerph]

BalaJee are thru to the finals.

At the Challenger 75 in Skopje, Macedonia (clay)

[SF] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) d. Filip Bergevi (SWE) / Jason Taylor (AUS) 63 64

Next,

[F] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs. Petr Nouza (CZE) /Andrew Paulson (CZE)

[Dinesh]

Next,

[F] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs. Filip Bergevi (SWE) / Jason Taylor (AUS)

If only they could repeat the same result. But BalaJee are up against Czechs Nouza and Paulson in the F. Methinks a title is on its way for BalaJee

[sameerph]

Opps, made the change above.

[sameerph]

Bala and Jeevan lost in the final.

At the Challenger 75 in Skopje, Macedonia (clay)

[F] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l. Petr Nouza (CZE) /Andrew Paulson (CZE) 67(5) 36

Looks like they will now wait around to see if they make the main draw at FO as they are not listed in challengers anywhere for next week.

Mate Valkuz went on and won the singles title. The only one who took a set off Valkuz was Sumit. Sumit was really unfortunate with the draw here.

[Dinesh]

Ramkumar is playing with Nenad Zimonjić (46yo) at the Troisdorf challenger in Germany next week. Did he just bring back the former world # 1 (doubles) out of retirement? What is going on here? Is he being coached by Nenad?

Sadly, they play the German pair of Dustin Brown/ Tim Sandkaulen that beat YukiSaki at an US Challenger some weeks ago. But I’m excited to watch Nenad play.

On an unrelated noted, James Blake is planning to play doubles with an 18yo player from SoCal - Hudson Rivera (the one who beat Siddhanth Banthia last year at the USD campus - I went to cheer for him but Sid was completely dominated by this underdog local player) at the upcoming SoCal ITF series.

On another unrelated note, Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha has decided to enter this SoCal ITF M15 series. I’ll be planning to watch him at the M15 Rancho Santa Fe & San Diego tournaments if Jay or anyone in the region wants to join me

[arjun2761]

Bala and Jeevan lost in the final.

At the Challenger 75 in Skopje, Macedonia (clay)

[F] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l. Petr Nouza (CZE) /Andrew Paulson (CZE) 67(5) 36

Looks like they will now wait around to see if they make the main draw at FO as they are not listed in challengers anywhere for next week.

Mate Valkuz went on and won the singles title. The only one who took a set off Valkuz was Sumit. Sumit was really unfortunate with the draw here.

If not for the injury in the 3rd set, he might have beaten Valkusz. He was ahead 12-7 in games won at that point in the match. Hope he is fit to play as he is in good form on clay….

[jayakris]

On another unrelated note, Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha has decided to enter this SoCal ITF M15 series. I’ll be planning to watch him at the M15 Rancho Santa Fe & San Diego tournaments if Jay or anyone in the region wants to join me

I will have to play it by ear this coming two weeks, as they are the last two weeks of the quarter at the university and I teach on M/W/F afternoons ... Will try my best. But I will definitely be there at the LA event after that.

[sameerph]

Sumit is third seed in qualifying draw of Troisdorf Challenger in Germany. RamK too got in.

Sumit plays Sergey Fomin (UZB,367) and RamK plays 6th seed Oroil Roca Batalla (ESP,304). RamK's first match in about one and half hours time and Sumit's match a little later.

[sameerph]

Sumit has a one sided win and RamK one sided loss.

At Troisdorf Challenger 75, Germany (Clay)

[Q1] (3) Sumit Nagal (IND,254) d. Sergey Fomin (UZB,574) 61 61

[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,458) l. (6) Oroil Roca Batalla (ESP,304) 26 26

Next,

[Q2] (3) Sumit Nagal (IND,254) vs. Robert Strombachs (GER,411)

[Sanjay]

Seems like RR is done. He's been consistently losing every tournament for about 2-3 years.