National champ Jeevan, Sriram eye glory at Davangere

The ITF men’s Futures Davangere Open begins at the Government High School grounds here on Monday.

Sriram Balaji, reigning national champion Jeevan  Nedunchezhiyan and Davis Cupper Sanam Singh are the top Indian players in the fray for the title.

The qualifiers ended on Sunday and eight players, including two from Karnataka, Suraj R Prabodh and Vikram Naidu, have made it to the main draw.

Sagar Manjanna and Alok Aradhya of Karnataka and Lakshit Sood and Rakshay Kakkar have received wild cards for the event.

Doubles final is slated for Friday while the singles final will be held the next day.
The tournament marks the fourth leg of the men’s series and it will be followed by events at Dharwad (Dec 10-15) and at Belgaum (Dec 17-22).

Meanwhile, Brahmajot Singh bounced back from an opening set loss to defeat Rajat Maheshwari 0-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Results (final qualifiers, Indians unless specified): Suraj Beniwal bt Jathin Dahiya 7-6 (7-2), 6-3; Torsten (Ger) bt Purva Kumar 6-1, 6-1; Brahmajot Singh bt Rajat Maheshwari 0-6, 6-1, 6-4; Suraj R Prabodh bt Kunal Anand 7-6 (7-4), 6-4; S K Mukund bt Fariz Mohammed 6-0, 1-0 (retd); Ronak Manuja bt Mohammed Ashraf 6-3, 6-0; Neeraj Elangovan bt Shabaz Khan 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2; Vikram Naidu bt Chinmay Pradhan 6-3, 6-3.