Indian tennis player Mukund Sasikumar Pic Source: DafaNews Bengaluru Tennis Open @BlrTennisOpen
BENGALURU:
Indian tennis players Mukund Sasikumar and Prajnesh Gunneswaran made their way into the final qualifying round at the Bengaluru Open 2023 after registering contrasting victories on Sunday. The Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) at the KSLTA Stadium in Bengaluru is organising the prestigious ATP Challenger event.
The 26-year-old Sasikumar ranked 402 in the world, dominated the World No. 170 Andrew Paulson during his confident 6-1, 6-4 win. India No. 1 Gunneswaran, on the other hand, faced some tough challenges from Zimbabwean Benjamin Lock in the first set, which went into a tie-breaker but managed to keep things under control to secure a 7-5, 6-4 victory eventually. Meanwhile, it was heartbreak for Ramkumar Ramanathan, who put up a solid show against the former World No. 78 Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan before going down fighting 6-3, 5-7, 3-6 in a thrilling three-setter that lasted for more than two hours.
India No. 1 @PrajneshGP Gunneswaran keeps the tricolour flying high with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Zimbabwe's Benjamin Lock to advance to the final round of qualifying at the #DafaNewsBengaluruTennisOpen.
— DafaNews Bengaluru Tennis Open (@BlrTennisOpen) February 19, 2023
All the action from the tournament right here!!#ATPChallenger #Tennis pic.twitter.com/Syqti1RcOa
India's Sasikumar Mukund is the first winner of the day with a convincing 6-1, 6-4 win over 12th seed Andrew Paulson in the first round of qualifiers for the #BengaluruTennisOpen. Stay tuned for more updates through the day.#DafaNews #ATPChallenger #Tennis #SportsEvent pic.twitter.com/kV2Jmjpayx
— DafaNews Bengaluru Tennis Open (@BlrTennisOpen) February 19, 2023
Four other Indians, Sidharth Rawat, Kriish Tyagi, Digvijaypratap Singh and Manish Ganesh, who came as wild cards, also gave it their all but suffered defeats in their respective matches. The main event of the tournament will kickstart on Monday and the opening day will be inaugurated by R Ashoka, Honourable Minister for Revenue, Government of Karnataka and President, KSLTA in the presence of Eric Lamquet, Director, ATP Challenger Tour, and Priyank Kharge, Member of Legislative Assembly, Government of Karnataka and Senior Vice President, KSLTA.
Mr. @PriyankKharge
— DafaNews Bengaluru Tennis Open (@BlrTennisOpen) February 19, 2023
Member of Legislative Assembly, Government of Karnataka & Sr. Vice President, KSLTA will also be joining us for on this special occasion.
See you there tomorrow!!#ATPChallenger #Tennis #SportsEvent #GetServedOnCourt
Top-seed Tseng Chun-Hsin, Australian Marc Polmans and No. 5 seed Luca Nardi among others will begin their challenge in the singles main draw. In contrast, Sasikumar and Gunneswaran will fight in the final qualifying round earlier in the day. ANI
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