Pranjala Yadlapalli impresses on return while Paes-Paire secure another victory

Pranjala Yadlapalli impresses on return while Paes-Paire secure another victory

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On her return from a three-month layoff, Pranjala Yadlapalli registered a 7-5, 6-0 win over Japan’s Misaki Matsuda to reach round two of the ITF event in Japan. Meanwhile, Leander Paes and partner Benoit Paire beat Andrea Vavassori and Andrei Vasilevski to reach the quarters in Sophia Antipolis.

India number three Pranjala Yadlapalli qualified for the main draw of a WTA tennis event for the first time in her fledgeling career in October last year. The Indian youngster needed just one hour and 15 minutes to register a 6-4 6-3 victory over Georgia’s Kalashnikova Oksana as Pranjala was making her return to the court after a three-month injury layoff at the ongoing $25K ITF event in Kashiwa, Japan.

In her first match since her injury retirement in Solapur towards the end of 2018, the 20–year-old outplayed Japan’s Misaki Matsuda in straight sets by a scoreline of 7-5, 6-0 to reach the second round of the competition. 

On the ATP Challenger circuit, the Indian men’s doubles pair of Purav Raja and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, seeded third, had a positive start to their outing with a hard-fought win over Fabricio Neis and David Vega Hernández by a 6-4, 5-7, 10-8 margin at Spain's Alicante Challenger.

However, Divij Sharan of India and Marcelo Demoliner of Brazil suffered a rather unforeseen defeat in the opening round in the same competition. The top-seeded duo lost 4-6 6-3 12-14 to the Portuguese-Dutch pair of Pedro Sousa and Mark Vervoort.

Meanwhile, veteran Indian athlete Leander Paes along with Frenchman Benoit Paire went past Andrea Vavassori and Andrei Vasilevski 7-5, 6-0 to reach quarter-final at the Challenger in Sophia Antipolis.

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