Pranjala Yadlapalli, who had won two titles and made her WTA debut at the Mumbai Open last year, marked her return after a three-month injury layoff with a win.
In her first match since a retirement in Solapur in December, the 20–year-old beat Japan’s Misaki Matsuda 7-5, 6-0 to reach second round of the $25K ITF event in Kashiwa, Japan.
On the ATP Challenger circuit, an Indian men’s doubles pair enjoyed a good start. The all-Indian pair of Purav Raja and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, seeded third, rallied to beat Fabricio Neis and David Vega Hernández 6-4, 5-7, 10-8 at the Alicante Challenger in Spain.
However, at the same event, top seeds Divij Sharan of India and Marcelo Demoliner of Brazil suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the opening round. They lost 4-6 6-3 12-14 to the Portuguese-Dutch pair of Pedro Sousa and Mark Vervoort.
Meanwhile, veteran Leander Paes partnered up with flamboyant Frenchman Benoit Paire once again. They beat Andrea Vavassori and Andrei Vasilevski 7-5, 6-0 to reach quarter-final at the Challenger in Sophia Antipolis.
At the $15K ITF tournaments in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, Indian players were in action in the doubles.
SD Prajwal Dev and Adil kalyanpur beat Niklas Guttau and Lucas Hellfritsch 7-5, 6-0 while Timur Kiyamov Eduardo Struvay beat Vasisht Cheruku and Anurag Nenwani 6-3, 6-0 in the men’s event.
Sai Samhitha Chamarthi and Ange Oby Kajuru won 6-0, 6-2 over Marne Dercksen Janina and Geiss in the women’s doubles.
