Ramkumar in pre-quarterfinals of Istanbul Challenger

Ramkumar Ramanathan sailed past wild card Marsel Ilhan of Turkey 6-2, 6-2 in the second round, after a bye in the first, in the Challenger tennis tournament in Istanbul, Turkey. He also made the doubles quarterfinals with Hugo Grenier of France.

Purav Raja, seeded second with Rameez Junaid of Australia did well to get past the former world No.1 Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia and Ruben Belelmans of Belgium 6-4, 6-4 in the doubles pre-quarterfinals.

In the Challenger in Banja Luka, sixth seed Sumit Nagal beat Ivan Nedelko of Russia 6-3, 7-6(3), in the second round, after a bye in the first. He will face wild card Matija Pecotic of Croatia in the pre-quarterfinals.

In the ITF womens’ event in Tabarka, Tunisia, Humera Shaik and Likhitha Kalava reached the second round of singles with straight-set wins.

The results:

$81,240 Challenger, Istanbul, Turkey
Singles (second round): Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Marsel Ilhan (TUR) 6-2, 6-2.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Hugo Grenier (FRA) & Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Arda Azkara & Burak Bilgin (TUR) 6-4, 6-2; Rameez Junaid (Aus) & Purav Raja bt Ruben Bemelmans (BEL) & Nenad Zimonjic (Srb) 6-4, 6-4.

$81,240 Challenger, Shanghai, China
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sriram Balaji & Vishnu Vardhan bt Collinn Altamirano (US) & Vladyslav Orlov (UKR) 6-1, 6-2; Sanchai Ratiwatana & Sonchat Ratiwatana bt Enrique Lopez Perez (ESP) & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 7-6(6), 6-4; Evan King & Hunter Reese (US) bt Arjun Kadhe & Vijay Sundar Prashanth 6-3, 5-7, [10-6].

€ 46,600 Challenger, Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Singles (second round): Sumit Nagal bt Ivan Nedelko (RUS) 6-3, 7-6(3).

$15,000 ITF women, Cairo, Egypt
Singles (first round): Stefano Battaglino (ITA) bt Sahil Gaware 6-4, 6-3; Dhruv Sunish bt Chanon Phunsawat (THA) 4-6, 6-0, 7-5; Gunjan Jadhav bt Nicola Crespi (ITA) 6-4, 7-5; Benjaminn Dhoe (BEL) bt Aryan Goveas 6-2, 6-3.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Lenny Hampel (AUT) & Aryan Goveas bt Maciej Rajski & Michal Skonieczny (POL) 3-6, 6-3, [10-7].

$15,000 ITF women, Anning, China
Singles (first round): Jiangxue Han (CHN) bt Ashmitha Easwaramurthi 6-3, 6-3.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Siqi Cao & Meiqi Guo (CHN) w.o. Oleksandra Oliynykova (CRO) & Ashmitha Easwaramurthi; Pre-quarterfinals: Oleksandra Oliynykova (CRO) & Ashmitha Easwaramurthi bt Shou Na Mmu & Chengyiyi Yuan (Chn) 6-4, 7-6(2).

$15,000 ITF women, Cairo, Egypt
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Chiara Bordo & Camilla Diez (ITA) bt Sathwika Sama & Saumya Vig 6-1, 6-4; Andjela Jocovic (SRB) & Ema Vasic (AUT) bt Martina Peretti (ITA) & Sharannya Gaware 6-0, 6-0.

$15,000 ITF women, Tabarka, Tunisia
Singles (first round): Humera Shaik bt Mey Ayari (TUN) 6-3, 6-4; Likhitha Kalava bt Ferdaous Bahri (TUN) 6-3, 6-3.

(Courtesy: The Hindu)