India’s Manas Dhamne won the Under-12 boys title at the Eddie Herr junior tennis tournament on Sunday. The 11-year-old beat third seed Maxwell Exsted 3-6, 6-0, 10-6 in the singles final to become the first Indian player to win this title in boys U-12 category.
He was also the runner-up in doubles event partnering Aarav Samrat Hada of Nepal. The pair went down 7-6(5), 6-2 against Se Hyuk Cho and Minseok Maeng.
In the singles’s semi-final, fourth seeded Dhame had scored a 6-1, 6-1 win over second seed Changmin Ryu.
The tournament, organised by the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, is said to be the biggest junior tennis tournament in the world with over 2,000 participants from 90 countries participating.
Other prominent players who have won the Eddie Herr tournament include Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic, Whitney Osuigwe, Miomir Kecmanovic, Michael Mmoh, Andy Roddick, according to the official website.
Dhamne, from Maharashtra, trains at the Adhar Poonawala Academy in Pune with coached Aditya Madkekar and Kaifi Afzal. He had won the Les Petits As – Asia Playoffs last month as well, which is considered the World Championships of tennis at the junior level.
