Manas Dhamne reaches quarter-finals

Indian teenager Manas Dhamne marched into the quarter-finals of the Pune ATP Challenger 2026, also known as the Maha Open, on Wednesday.

Playing as a wildcard at the Balewadi Stadium, the 18-year-old Indian tennis player got past Ilya Ivashka, a former top-50 singles tennis player, after the latter withdrew due to injury. Dhamne had won the first set 6-3.

Manas will now take on Croatia’s Duje Ajdukovic in the quarter-finals of the ATP Challenger 75 event on Friday.

In the first round, Dhamne had upset Stefanos Sakellaridis of Greece - the winner of last week's Delhi Open.

India No. 1 Sumit Nagal, who produced a clinical 6-1, 6-2 victory over seventh seed Rio Noguchi of Japan in the first round on Tuesday, will be in action on Thursday.

Unseeded players Duje Ajduković of Croatia, Alastair Gray of Great Britain, and sixth-seeded Italian Federico Cina were the other players from the top half to make the last eight stage.

Duje Ajduković delivered a dominant all-round display to upset fifth-seed Frederico Ferreira Silva of Portugal with the scoreline of 6-2, 6-2.

Ajduković controlled proceedings from the baseline, broke early in both sets and never allowed the Portuguese to settle into rhythm.

Britain’s Alastair Gray scripted a thrilling win, fighting back from a set down to upset third seed Ilia Simakin 4-6, 7-6(7), 7-5 in two hours and 50 minutes.

Sixth seed Federico Cina of Italy continued his impressive run with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Japan’s Yuta Shimizu

In the doubles first round, top seeds Siddhant Banthia (India) and Alexander Donski (Bulgaria) overcame a stiff first-set challenge to beat Luca Castelnuovo (Switzerland) and Uisung Park (Republic of Korea) 7-6(5), 6-2.

Indian wildcards Saketh Myneni and Digvijaypratap Singh impressed with a solid 6-3, 6-3 victory over Japan’s Masamichi Imamura and Kokoro Isomura.

Jay Clarke (Great Britain) and Michael Geerts (Belgium) also registered a clinical 6-3, 6-4 win over the Japanese duo Takuya Kumasaka and Rio Noguchi.

Ryuki Matsuda (Japan) and Ilia Simakin battled past Aryan Lakshmanan (India) and Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong (Malaysia) 7-6(3), 7-5 in a closely contested encounter.

Pune ATP Challenger 2026 results: Day 3

Singles main draw (second round)

Duje Ajdukovic (CRO) bt [5] Frederico Ferreira Silva (POR) 6-2, 6-2

Alastair Gray (GBR) bt [3] Ilia Simakin 4-6, 7-6(7), 7-5

[6] Federico Cina (ITA) bt Yuta Shimizu (JPN) 6-1, 6-4

[Wc] Manas Dhamne (IND) bt Ilya Ivashka 6-3 Retd

Doubles main draw (second round)

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