MANISH SURESHKUMAR IN FINAL QUALIFYING ROUND OF $125,000 CHALLENGER

Manish Sureshkumar won two rounds in the qualifying event to set up a final round clash against fifth seed Makoto Ochi of Japan, in the $125,000 Challenger in Chengdu, China. Third seed Sasi Kumar Mukund, however, lost tamely in the second round to Harry Bourchier of Australia.

Arjun Kadhe was seeded No.1 in the qualifying event, but moved into the main draw as an alternate.

Prarthana Thombare in partnership with Jacqueline Cako of the US was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Jiang Xinyu and Tang Qianhui in the doubles quarterfinals of the $250,000 WTA women’s tennis tournament in Nanchang, China.

The second round entry was worth 60 WTA points and $1,820 for the third seeded Indo-American pair.

Ramkumar Ramanathan who had made the Newport ATP final will need to win one round in the qualifying event after a bye, in the Masters series event in Washington DC. Leander Paes is the only Indian to enter the doubles draw in partnership with Jamie Cerretani.

In the ITF grade-5 junior tennis tournament in Belarus, top seed Rohan Mehra clinched the title with ease as he outplayed second seed Dmytro Yeremenko of Ukraine 6-2, 6-2 in the final. It was the third successive title for the 16-year-old Rohan, who had endured tough three-setters in the pre-quarterfinals and quarterfinals.

He had won his two earlier singles titles in Kyrgyzstan over a fortnight in May-June.

The results:

$250,000 WTA, Nanchang, China
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Jiang Xinyu & Tang Qianhui (Chn) bt Jacqueline Cako (US) & Prarthana Thombare 6-4, 6-4.

$125,000 Challenger men, Chengdu, China
Qualifying singles (second round): Harry Bourchier (Aus) bt Sasi Kumar Mukund 6-2, 6-2; Mansih Sureshkumar bt Yan Bai (Chn) 4-6, 7-5, 6-0; First round: Tak Khunn Wang (Fra) bt Sidharth Rawat 6-3, 6-4; Manish Sureshkumar bt Wei Qiang Zheng (Chn) 6-4, 6-3.

ITF grade-5 juniors, Lido, Belarus
Boys singles (final): Rohan Mehra bt Dmytro Yeremenko (Ukr) 6-2, 6-2.