Chennai, February 14 Top seeds Niki Poonacha of India and Pruchya Isaro of Thailand won the doubles title at the Chennai Open ATP Challenger Men’s International Tennis Championship here on Saturday.
The Indo-Thai pair recovered from an early setback against Great Britain’s Jay Clarke and India’s Mukund Sasikumar to win the first set 6-4. One break of serve proved enough in the second, as Poonacha and Isaro sealed the victory with identical set scores of 6-4, 6-4, to claim the title.
This victory marked Poonacha’s seventh ATP Challenger doubles title, and the fourth for Isaro. It was also their second title together, following their success at the Shanghai Challenger last year.
Poonacha and Isaro, who made their Grand Slam debut at last month’s Australian Open, received a prize money cheque of USD 2,980 (Rs 2,71,180) and earned 50 ATP ranking points from this tournament.
Clarke and Sasikumar earned 30 points and a prize money cheque of USD 1,740 (Rs 1,58,340).
In the singles final, second seed Federico Agustin Gomez will take on sixth seed Frederico Ferreira Silva on Sunday.
In the first semi-final, Gomez defeated Poland’s Maks Kasnikowski 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in two hours and 18 minutes, moving one win away from his fifth ATP Challenger singles title. The 29-year-old Argentine, ranked No. 196 in the world, struck 37 winners compared to Kasnikowski’s 19.
In the second semi-final, Portugal’s Frederico Ferreira Silva defeated Ilia Simakin 6-4, 6-2, who had arrived in the match on a nine-match winning streak on the ATP Challenger Tour.
Ranked 255 in the world, Ferreira Silva did not face a single break point on serve and has yet to drop a set in Chennai this week. He will be chasing his first ATP Challenger singles title.
The winner of Sunday’s singles final will earn 50 ATP ranking points, while the runner-up will receive 25 points.
