PUNE, February 25, 2026 (Media Release)
Local wild card entry Manas Dhamne stormed into the quarterfinals at the PMRDA Powered Maha Open ATP Challenger 75 Men’s Tennis Championship organized by Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association.
Unseeded players Duje Ajdukovic 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.
Dhamne thrilled the home crowd as he advanced after former top-50 player Ilya Ivashka retired while trailing 6-3. The 18-year-old Indian looked confident and composed, striking cleanly from the backcourt before the Belarusian was forced to pull out due to injury. Dhamne will now take on Ajdukovic in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Ajdukovic delivered a dominant all-round display to upset fifth seed Frederico Ferreira Silva of Portugal 6-2, 6-2. The Croatian controlled proceedings from the baseline, broke early in both sets and never allowed the Portuguese to settle into rhythm.
Alastair Gray scripted one of the most thrilling wins of the tournament, fighting back from a set down to upset third seed Ilia Simakin 4-6, 7-6(7), 7-5 in a two hour 50 minutes thriller. After dropping the opening set, Gray raised his intensity, edged a nail-biting second-set tie-break and held his nerve in a tense decider to seal the comeback victory.
Cina continued his impressive run with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Japan’s Yuta Shimizu. He was sharp on serve and aggressive on return, dictating rallies and closing out the match in straight sets in just over an hour.
WEDNESDAY RESULTS
Singles – 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 – First Round
[1] Siddhant Banthia (Ind) / Alexander Donski (Bul) bt Luca Castelnuovo (Sui)/ Uisung Park (Kor) 7-6(5), 6-2;
[Wc] Saketh Myneni (Ind) / Digvijaypratap Singh (Ind) bt Masamichi Imamura (Jpn)/ Kokoro Isomura (Jpn) 6-3, 6-3;
Jay Clarke (Gbr)/Michael Geerts (Bel) bt Takuya Kumasaka (Jpn) / Rio Noguchi (Jpn) 6-3, 6-4;
Ryuki Matsuda (Jpn) / Ilia Simakin bt Aryan Lakshmanan(Ind)/Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong(Mas) 7-6(3), 7-5;
[4] Jisung Nam (Kor) / Patrik Niklas-Salminen (Fin) bt [Wc] Manas Dhamne (Ind) / Aditya Vishal Balsekar (Ind)6-2, 6-1
