Goemkarponn desk
Panaji: Hyderabad-based tennis ace Suresh Murthati and his partner Thulasiramu B S came back from one set down to win the veteran men’s 120+ doubles category in the ongoing Gadre Gaspar Dias Open 2024, defeating Mahesh Keshav and Basappa Raga 2-6, 7-5, 11-9 in a three-set thriller in the finals.
68-year-old Murthati, who has represented India on four occasions in international tennis tournaments for seniors, and Thulasiramu B S lost the first set 2-6, before winning the second 7-5 and eventually winning the third 11-9 in a super tiebreaker. This is the fourth time that the Murthati has participated in the Gadre Gaspar Dias Open 2024, a leading state-ranking tennis tournament.
Basappa Raga/Mahesh Keshav had defeated Sheetal Bhonsale/Bharat Patil (6-4), while Suresh Murthati/Thulasiramu B S beat Nimbalkar/ Kulkarni (6-3) to make it to the finals in their category.
Earlier, in the men’s doubles 120+ veteran category Dinesh Shingte/Khalil Ansari beat Sachin Dukle/Avinash Raiturkar (6-0) and Khalil Ansari/Dinesh Shingte beat Yashwant/Ashwin (6-3) to make it to the semifinals.
In 35+ mixed doubles finals, Santosh/Rita swept away the challenge of Valentino/Tanya (6-0, 6-0) to win the title in the ongoing tournament.
In other matches held at the Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias and the Panjim Gymkhana courts, Manoj Chandiramani beat Sheetal Bhonsale (6-3) to reach the semifinals of the veterans men’s singles 60+ category.
In the men’s doubles 110+ veteran category, Sanjay Ashar/Jaydeep Wakankar beat Krishna Devendra/Joseph Mathew (6-0), Dinesh Shingte/Nilesh Sawant beat Reddy/Ashwin (w/o), Sanjay Ashar/Jaydeep Wakankar beat Sajjad Hussain/Gopal Panday(7-5), Biswajit Roy/Armugam M beat Mahesh Keshav/Natraj Gujran (6-0) and Dr. Manoj Chandiramani/Vijay Meher beat Vivekanand Aparaj/Ujwal Sakri (6-0) to reach the semifinals.
Armugan M beat Hemanshu Vernekar (6-1) (6-0) and Vijay Meher beat Krishna (7-5), Parag Shedbale beat Ashok Kolekar (6-3) (6-3), Manoj Chandiramani beat Suresh Murtharti (6-1) (6-1) to reach the finals of the veteran men’s singles 45+, veteran men’s singles 55+ and veteran men’s singles 60+ categories respectively.
In the men’s doubles 90+ veteran’s semifinals, Vijay Patki/Nilesh Sawant beat Bruce Fernandes/Vinoy Parakunnil (6-3) (6-4), while the pair of Suresh Murthati and Thulasiramu defeated Sathya C N/Mahesh C N (6-3) (6-4) to reach the finals in the category. In the men’s doubles 110+ veteran category Nilesh Sawant/Dinesh Shingte defeated Jaydeep Wakankar/ Sanjay Ashar 6-3(6), 6-7, (10-8) to reach the finals.
In all, 479 tennis players have registered for the event, out of which 234 players have registered under the veteran’s category, while 245 players have registered for the open category. The annually held Gadre Gaspar Dias Open tournament, is considered an essential milestone for tennis players keen to improve their state rank in the racquet sport.
