Mumbai: Manas Dhamne, India's promising tennis talent, has gained valuable confidence after a solid run at the ATP 50 Shymkent clay-court tournament in Kazakhstan.
The 18-year-old Indian lost to the 320th-ranked Belgian Buvaysar Gadamauri 7-6(6), 6-4 in the final, but his performance will see him jump to a career high 384 in the updated rankings on Monday and become the new India No.2 in men's singles.
Battling challenging conditions in Shymkent, Dhamne got some good wins under his belt, including a standout performance against sixth seeded Frenchman Antoine Ghibaudo in the semi-final.
For Dhamne, this week has been a positive experience, giving him the confidence to understand what he needs to do to keep improving in his tennis.
The trainee at the Piatti Tennis Centre in Bordighera, Italy, has been competing on the ITF Futures level last year, but this season, he's been competing on the Challenger circuit, with a varied spread of tournaments.
Dhamne last played a Futures event in Zahra, Kuwait, in February, which he won, and has also been handed qualifying round wildcards in a couple of ATP Masters 1000 events.
