Indian Sports Wrap, March 20: Top-seeded Bax beats Mukund in quarterfinal clash at MSLTA $25K ITF Men’s Tournament
TENNIS
Top-seeded Bax saves four match points to scrape past Mukund at the MSLTA $25K ITF Men’s Tournament
Top seeded Florent Bax of France saved four match points to overcome seventh seed Sasikumar Mukund 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(3) in a marathon contest lasting over three hours to enter the mens singles semifinals at the MSLTA $25,000 ITF Men’s Tennis Tournament, organized by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association at the Dr. G.A. Ranade Tennis Centre.
In the semifinals, he took on India’s Sidharth Rawat, who made a strong statement, and ousted fourth seed Italian Alexandr Binda 6-4, 4-0 before the latter was forced to retire.
Fifth seed Philip Sekulic registered a solid 7-5, 6-3 win over Timofei Derepasko of Russia. Sekulic will take on Sweden’s Leo Borg, who delivered a dominant performance, toppling second seed Luca Castelnuovo 6-0, 6-2 in under an hour.
In the doubles semifinals, the top-seeded Indian pair of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Ramkumar Ramanathan cruised past Alexandr Binda and Timofei Derepasko 6-3, 6-4 to enter the final. The Indian top seeds will take on the duo of Leo Borg and Yurii Dzhavakian, who also progressed to the final with a 6-3, 6-2 win, stopping the good run of local wildcards India’s Anup Bangargi and Nirav Shetty.
Results: Singles: Quarterfinal Round:
Florent Bax(1)(Fra) bt Sasikumar Mukund(7)(Ind) 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(3); Sidharth Rawat(Ind) bt Alexandr Binda(4)(Ita) 6-4, 4-0; Philip Sekulic(5)(Aus) bt Timofei Derepasko 7-5, 6-3; Leo Borg(Swe) bt Luca Castelnuovo(2)(Sui) 6-0, 6-2;
Doubles: Semifinal Round:
Jeevan Neduncehzhiyan/Ramkumar Ramnathan(Ind)(1) bt Alexandr Binda(Ita)/Timofei Derepasko 6-3, 6-4; Leo Borg(Swe)/Yurii Dzhavakian(Ukr) bt Anup Bangargi/Nirav Shetty(Ind) 6-3, 6-2;
-Team Sportstar
GOLF
Aditi has slow start in California
India’s Aditi Ashok opened her campaign at the Fortinet Founders Cup with an even-par 72 to be placed tied 60th, nine shots behind leader Hyo Joo Kim here.
Ashok began her round in the back nine and made one birdie and one bogey before the turn and another birdie and a bogey on the front nine.
The birdies were made on the 17th and third holes, while the bogeys came on the 11th and sixth holes.
The 27-year-old is playing her second event of the year and would be looking to continue her fine form from China, where she finished in the top five.
Hyo Joo Kim leads the field by two strokes after carding 9-under 63 on the first day.
-PTI
CRICKET
Top stars to turn out for Dr. Vece Paes Cup
Cricketers Kapil Dev, Karsan Ghavri, Yusuf Pathan and Kirti Azad along with tennis legend Leander Paes will be part of the Dr. Vece Paes Cricket Cup, featuring a match between CCFC and Dr. Vece Paes XI, to be held here on Sunday. Other well known cricketers such as Arun Lal, Ashok Malhotra and Manoj Tiwary will also be seen in action.
-Team Sportstar
Published on Mar 20, 2026
