Pune, February 24 – India's top-ranked star Sumit Nagal delivered a commanding performance, while local teenager and rising Indian talent Manas Dhamne showcased nerves of steel to spearhead the Indian charge at the Maha Open ATP Challenger 75 Men's Tennis Championship at the Shiv Chhatrapati Kreeda Sankul in Pune on Tuesday.
Nagal thrilled a lively home crowd with a clinical 6-1, 6-2 victory over seventh seed Rio Noguchi of Japan, securing victory in an hour and 9 minutes, dictating play from the baseline and winning the match in straight sets. The Indian No.1 looked sharp in all departments, consistently breaking serve to comfortably advance to the second round.
Local boy Dhamne, who secured a place in the main draw through a wildcard, continued his impressive progress on the Challenger circuit, defeating Stefanos Sakellaridis of Greece (winner of last week's Delhi Challenger), 6-4, 7-6(4). The Pune teen, ranked 489, displayed maturity beyond his years, holding his nerve in a tight second-set tiebreak to secure a memorable win over the 220-ranked Greek.
Elsewhere, eighth seed Edas Butvilas of Lithuania gave a lesson in tennis, defeating local Indian wildcard Aditya Balsekar 6-0, 6-1. Meanwhile, Indian entrant Karan Singh lost to qualifier Maks Kasnikowski (POL) 6-3, 6-1.
The third seed, Ilia Simakin of Russia, edged past qualifier Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong of Malaysia, winning 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(10) in a closely fought encounter lasting 2 hours and 24 minutes.
Sixth seed Federico Cina from Italy registered a dominant 6-1, 6-0 win over Japanese qualifier Takuya Kumasaka. Britain's Felix Gill staged a remarkable comeback to defeat Belgian Michael Geerts 1-6, 7-6(9), 6-4, and fifth seed Frederico Ferreira Silva of Portugal moved into the next round with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Petr Bar Biryukov. Qualifier Tung-Lin Wu of Chinese Taipei continued his good run, defeating lucky loser Alexander Binda of Italy 6-1, 6-2.
In the second round, which will be played on Wednesday, Dhamne will take on former world no. 40 Illya Ivashka.
Results:
Singles (first round):
Edas Butvilas [8](Lithuania) bt [WC] Aditya Balsekar (India) 6-0, 6-1;
Federico Cina [6] (Italy) bt [Q] Takuya Kumasaka (Japan) 6-1, 6-0;
Felix Gill (Great Britain) bt Michael Geerts (Belgium) 1-6, 7-6(9), 6-4;
Frederico Ferreira Silva [5] (Portugal) bt Petr Bar Biryukov 6-3, 6-4;
[Q] Tung-Lin Wu (Taiwan) bt [LL] Alexander Binda (Italy) 6-1, 6-2;
Ilia Simakin [3] bt [Q] Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong (Malaysia) 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(10);
Sumit Nagal (India) bt Rio Noguchi [7] (Japan) 6-1, 6-2;
[WC] Manas Dhamne (India) bt Stefanos Sakellaridis (Greece) 6-4, 7-6(4);
Oliver Crawford [4] (Great Britain) bt Tsung-Hao Huang (Taiwan) 6-2, 4-6, 6-0;
[Q] Maks Kasnikowski (Poland) bt [WC] Karan Singh (India) 6-3, 6-1;
[Q] Masamichi Imamura (Japan) bt David Jorda Sanchis (Spain) 7-6(8), 6-4;
Doubles:
Yuta Shimizu (Japan)/ Seita Watanabe [3] (Japan) bt S D Prajwal Dev (India)/ Nitin Kumar Sinha (India) 6-4, 7-6(2);
