Indian tennis: Manish enters final in Thailand, Pranjala and Riya qualify for semis in Nigeria

Manish Sureshkumar eased past Russia’s Shalva Dzhanashiya to enter the final of ITF F6 Futures in Thailand. The second seed defeated Dzhanashiya, seeded fourth, 6-3, 6-2 to set up the title clash with New Zealand’s Ajeet Rai.

Ajeet beat Slovenia’s Matic Spec 6-3, 6-3 to qualify for the final. He, however, lost the doubles final with Indian partner Karunuday Singh.

Karunuday and Ajeet went down to Francis Casey Alcantara of Philippines and Sonchat Ratiwatana of Thailand in a thrilling final. The top seeds won 6-1, 1-6, [10-6]. Karunuday and Ajeet had defeated the third seeded Japanese pair Soichiro Moritani and Jumpei Yamasaki 4-6, 6-3, [10-6] to reach the final.

In the ITF F5 Futures in Nigeria, Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha and Aryan Goveas lost their quarter-final games in straight sets. Among the women, Pranjala Yadlapalli and Riya Bhatia qualified for the semi-finals in the ITF Futures in Nigeria with straight-set victories.

Meanwhile, India’s Prarthana Thombare and Jazcqueline Cako of USA lost to Veronika Kudermetova and Natela Dzalamidze 4-6, 4-6 in the quarter-finals of Tianjin Open.