Manas Dhamne reaches Maha Open ATP Challenger quarterfinals

Pune, Feb 25 (PTI) Wildcard entrant and local player Manas Dhamne on Wednesday qualified for the men’s singles quarterfinals of the Maha Open ATP Challenger 75 tournament here.

Dhamne made it to the final eight after Belarus’ Ilya Ivashka, who was once ranked in the top 50, retired from the contest due to an injury while he was trailing 3-6. Dhamne will take on Croatia’s Duje Ajdukovic in the quarterfinal on Friday.

Meanwhile, unseeded Ajdukovic, Alastair Gray of Great Britain and sixth seeded Italian Federico Cina were the other players from the top half to qualify for the quarterfinals.

Ajdukovic produced a dominant performance to upset the fifth seeded Frederico Ferreira Silva of Portugal 6-2, 6-2.

Britain’s Gray came back strong from being a set down to upset third seed Ilia Simakin 4-6, 7-6(7), 7-5 in two hours and 50 minutes.

Italy’s Cina recorded a 6-1, 6-4 triumph against Japan’s Yuta Shimizu.

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.

Indian wildcards Saketh Myneni and Digvijaypratap Singh recorded a commanding 6-3, 6-3 victory over Japan’s Masamichi Imamura and Kokoro Isomura, whereas the pair of Jay Clarke (Great Britain) and Michael Geerts (Belgium) 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. PTI DDV PDS PDS