Manas Dhamne storms into quarters of MahaOpen ATP Challenger 75 

Pune, Feb 25 (IANS) Hometown hero Manas Dhamne continued his fine form at the Maha Open ATP Challenger 75 men's tennis Championship, storming into the men's singles quarterfinals at the Shiv Chhatrapati Kreeda Sankul, Mhalunge Balewadi Tennis Stadium on Wednesday.  

Unseeded players Duje Ajduković of Croatia, Alastair Gray of Great Britain, and sixth seeded Italian Federico Cina were the other players from the top half to make the last eight stage.

Indian wildcard Manas Dhamne thrilled the home crowd as he advanced to the quarterfinals, defeating former top-50 player Ilya Ivashka. Unfortunately, the latter retired while trailing 3-6. Dhamne looked confident and composed, striking cleanly from the backcourt before the Belarusian was forced to pull out due to injury. Manas will now take on Croatia’s Duje Ajdukovic in the quarterfinals on Friday.

The unseeded Duje Ajdukovic delivered a dominant all-round display to upset fifth seed Frederico Ferreira Silva of Portugal with the scoreline of 6-2, 6-2. Ajduković controlled proceedings from the baseline, broke early in both sets and never allowed the Portuguese to settle into rhythm.

Britain’s Alastair Gray scripted one of the most thrilling wins of the tournament, fighting back from a set down to upset third seed Ilia Simakin 4-6, 7-6(7), 7-5 in a 2 hour 50 minutes contest. After dropping the opening set, Gray raised his intensity, edged a nail-biting second-set tie-break and held his nerve in a tense decider to seal the comeback victory.

Sixth seed Federico Cina of Italy continued his impressive run with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Japan’s Yuta Shimizu. Cina was sharp on serve and aggressive on return, dictating rallies and closing out the match in straight sets in just over an hour.

In the doubles first round, top seeds Siddhant Banthia (India) and Alexander Donski (Bulgaria) overcame a stiff first-set challenge to beat Luca Castelnuovo (Switzerland) and Uisung Park (Korea) 7-6(5), 6-2. After clinching a closely contested tie-break, the top pair ran away with the second set to close out the contest.

Indian wildcards Saketh Myneni and Digvijaypratap Singh impressed with a solid 6-3, 6-3 victory over Japan’s Masamichi Imamura and Kokoro Isomura, displaying sharp net play and effective teamwork. Jay Clarke (Great Britain) and Michael Geerts (Belgium) also registered a clinical 6-3, 6-4 win over Japanese duo Takuya Kumasaka and Rio Noguchi.

Ryuki Matsuda (Japan) and Ilia Simakin battled past Aryan Lakshmanan (India) and Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong (Malaysia) 7-6(3), 7-5 in a closely contested encounter decided by crucial mini-breaks and late-set pressure points.

With the quarterfinal line-up taking shape, the stage is set for high-octane action as the battle for the ATP Challenger 75 title intensifies in Pune. The event will see India No. 1 Sumit Nagal in action on Thursday at 2pm.

--IANS

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