Bengaluru, May 17:
The SM Krishna Memorial Open enters a new chapter on Monday as the tournament debuts on the ATP Challenger Tour calendar, upgraded from an ITF M25 event to a Challenger 50 with a prize purse of USD 63,000.
The upgraded status has attracted a stronger field and offers Indian players a valuable opportunity to earn higher ATP ranking points on home soil. The tournament features a 32-player singles draw comprising 23 direct entries, three wildcards and six qualifiers.
As many as eight Indians have earned a place in the main draw. There is a possibility of three more Indians progressing through qualifying, which concludes on Monday morning.
The biggest local storyline surrounds teenage wildcard Kriish Tyagi, who produced a breakthrough run at last week’s Karnataka Open Challenger. Ranked outside the top 1000, the Bengaluru player reached his maiden ATP Challenger semifinal, upsetting second seed Hamish Stewart before falling to eventual finalist Philip Sekulic. Carrying fresh confidence, Kriish begins against Chinese Taipei’s Kuan-Yi Lee.
Another Indian who impressed last week was Manish Sureshkumar, who reached his maiden Challenger quarterfinal. The experienced campaigner now faces perhaps the toughest opening-round challenge against top seed Keegan Smith of the USA.
Smith (World No. 289) arrives as the form player after winning the Karnataka Open title on Saturday. The American defeated Sekulic 6-2, 7-5 in the final after also overcoming former World No. 43 Ilya Ivashka in the semifinals, making him the player to beat this week.
Sekulic, seeded fifth here, also enters with momentum after reaching last week’s final. The Australian was particularly dominant during his semifinal victory over Kriish and opens against a qualifier.
The Indian challenge will also feature seventh seed Karan Singh (World No. 413), who faces Malaysia’s Mitsuki Wei Leong, while former Davis Cup player Mukund Sasikumar takes on eighth seed Maximus Jones of Thailand. Sidharth Rawat meets Australia’s Omar Jasika, Digvijaypratap Singh faces Japan’s Leo Vithoontien, and SD Prajwal Dev has a stern test against former ATP Tour regular Ivashka.
Among the wildcard entrants, Vishal Balsekar opens against third seed Hamish Stewart, while Kriish and Manish also face challenging draws.
Internationally, second seed Alastair Gray of Great Britain (World No. 293) presents an interesting subplot. Gray entered qualifying last week as a top contender but retired during his campaign. He returns this week as the second seed and opens against a qualifier.
Third seed Hamish Stewart (World No. 328), fourth seed Petr Bar Biryukov (World No. 337), fifth seed Philip Sekulic (World No. 357) and sixth seed Ognjen Milic (World No. 395) complete a competitive field.
With a recent champion, an in-form finalist, a teenage local sensation and a sizeable Indian contingent in the draw, the inaugural Challenger edition of the SM Krishna Memorial Open promises an intriguing week of tennis.
Results (Qualifying Round-1) Prefix indicates seedings for qualifiers
10-Naoya Honda (JPN) bt Volodymyr Iakubenko (UKR) 7-5 (5), 7-5
4-Amit Vales (ISR) bt Maan Kesharwani (IND) 6-2, 6-4;
Christopher Papa (USA) bt 7-Daisuke Sumizawa (JPN) 6-1, 6-2;
WC-Aradhya Kshitij (IND) bt 1-Moerani Bouzige (AUS) 6-3, 7-5;
8-Nitin Kumar Sinha (IND) bt Tomohiro Masabayashi (JPN) 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (5);
3-Joshua Charlton (AUS) bt WC-Mahesh Kumar Vishal Vasudev (IND) 6-4, 6-4;
9-Dev Javia (IND) bt Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam (IND) 6-7 (3), 7-6 (6), 6-0;
5-Taiyo Yamanaka (JPN) bt WC-Adil Kalyanpur (IND) 6-3, 6-3;
Ryotaro Taguchi (JPN) bt 2-Yuta Kawahashi (JPN) 6-7 (1), 6-2, 6-3;
12-Ronit Karki (USA) bt Aryan Lakshmanan (IND) 7-6 (4), 6-2;
11-Grigoriy Lomakin (KAZ) bt Arjun Mehrotra (AUS) 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-1.
6-Thanapet Chanta (THA) Vs. WC-Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar (IND) 6-0, 1-6, 6-1.
