Yuki and co. ready to assert their class

The cream of Indian tennis, spearheaded by the 271st ranked Yuki Bhambri will be in action in the Raheja $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament to be played at the CLTA Complex here from Monday.

Yuki, who had cramped in the final of a similar tournament in Doha, where he failed to capitalise on four match points and had retired in the third set recently, will open his campaign against Abhijeet Tiwari.

Local lad Vijayant Malik, who made his Davis Cup debut against Korea earlier this season, figures in the same quarter as Yuki and may run into Kaza Vinayak Sharma in the second round. The talented Sanam Singh figures in the second quarter along with the eighth seed and former national champion V.M. Ranjeet.

The results: Qualifying event (third and final round): Fariz Mohammed bt Sagar Ahuja 6-2, 6-2; Neeraj Elangovan bt Kirksteen Rebuyas (Phi) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2; Saurabh Patil bt Rutger Cramer (Ned) 6-0, 6-2; Anvit Bendra bt Arpit Sharma 6-3, 1-6, 6-2; Nischay Rawal bt Garry Tokas 3-6, 6-4, 7-5; Rakshit Rishi bt Rohit Sarwate 6-3, 6-1; Gurinder Singh bt Suraj Beniwal 6-2, 3-1 (retired); Ronit Singh Bisht bt Anit Sachdeva 6-1, 6-3.

The seedings: 1. Yuki Bhambri, 2. N. Sriram Balaji, 3. Sanam Singh, 4. Vishnu Vardhan, 5. Saketh Myneni, 6. N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth, 7. Vijayant Malik, 8. V.M. Ranjeet. — Special Correspondent