Indian Tennis Weekly: Pair of YukiSaki finish finalist at ATP 80

Rohan Bopanna loses doubles match in Round of 16 at ATP Astana Open.

The last week was a good one from an Indian point of view with few of the tennis players making it to the finals of the ATP Challengers and few giving a tough fight. 

Rohan Bopanna/Matwe Middelkoop

The top-seeded Indian in the doubles category pairing up with the dutch pair of Middlekoop lost to the 2nd-seeded pair of Pavic/Mektic in straight sets (6-7, 2-6) at the ATP Astana Open. In the first, the Indo-Dutch pair could have converted a few points to claim the set but failed to convert thereby losing in the tiebreaker.

In the 2nd set, there was no major threat to the 2nd seed losing tamely. The Indo-Dutch pair recently won the ATP 250 Water-Gen Open in Israel but couldn't continue the winning momentum.

Ramkumar Ramanathan

The 28-year-old after a few rusty weeks was back to his best in the singles category after winning the two qualifying matches in the singles. Ramkumar beat 124th-ranked Ymer in the 2nd qualifying round progressing to the main stages of the ATP 500 Tokyo Open. The ATP Tokyo Open has been a happy hunting ground for Indians in the past with Leander, and Rohan Bopanna winning the title before.

Ramkumar Ramanathan lost to Noguchi from Japan in three sets but recovered well after losing the first set to force the match to the decider. Ramkumar was trailing 2-5 in the 3rd set at one point but crawled back to take it five games all but couldn't hold on to the momentum eventually losing a tough battle. 

In the doubles category, Ramkumar partnered with A. Popyrin lost in the opening encounter to the 2nd-seeded Ebden/Purcell inside straight sets. Ramanathan of late has not been showing consistency in doubles as he had shown at the start of the season.

Yuki Bhambri/Saketh Myneni

The YukiSaki pair finished as the finalist at the ATP 80 Challenger Gwangju. Going into the finals the pair had not lost a single set in any of the three games but lost the finals in the tiebreaker. In the finals, the Indian pair lost mainly due to poor service games costing them the title to Barrientos/Reyes-Varella.

Yuki Bhambri moves to a career-best 101 in the ATP live rankings and if the Indian tennis pair has a good upcoming week then Bhambri will reach the top 100 and become the second after Leander Paes to reach the top 100 in both singles and doubles categories.

Divij Sharan/Purav Raja

The Indian pair finished finalist at the ATP 90 Challenger Vendee in France. The pair lost to the 2nd-seeded pair of Arends/Pel in three sets. The Indian pair started the finals on a good note winning the opening set. In the second set played the tie-breaker leading at one point in time but couldn't hold on losing the set and 3rd set tie-breaker.

Sriram Balaji/Jeevan Neduchezhiyan

The pair finished semi-finalists losing out to top-seeded Cacic/Brkic in straight sets at the ATP 90 Parma Challenger. This was Sriram Balaji’s first Challenger tour after a month's break and had a good game time.

Jeevan Neduchezhiyan had a good few weeks finishing as finalist and semifinalist in the last two ATP Challenger. 

Anirudh Chandrasekhar/Prasanth Sundar and S.Banthia

Anirudh/Prasanth had a good start to the ATP 80 Tiburon Challenger winning against the 3rd-seeded pair of Jaziri/Pervolarakis in straight sets. But the Indian pair lost in the quarter-finals to Banthia/Overbeck.

Banthia had a good run at the Challenger finishing semi-finalists and will move up the rankings to the top 600 in the ATP Rankings.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Sumit Nagal

Prajnesh Gunneswaran finished semi-finalists at the ITF M25 Sheffield losing to unseeded Hussey in straight sets. Sumit Nagal lost in the opening encounter in both singles and doubles at the ATP 80 Challenger Campinas.