Arjun flutters into second round of Bengaluru Open qualifier

Bengaluru: Arjun Kadhe, who made it as an alternate in the qualifying draw, created the first ripples of the tournament when he upset sixth-seeded Johan Nikles of Switzerland 6-4, 6-4 to take a step closer at entering the main round of Bengaluru Open ATP Challenger at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association courts here on Sunday. In a clash of two Indians, Mukund Sasikumar, the eighth seed, overcame Adil Kalyanpur 6-2, 6-3 to become only the second out of nine Indians in the fray to advance to the second round of the qualifying contest.

Meanwhile, Jiri Vesely, the top-ranked competitor in the main draw, landed in the City from Pune in the evening and headed straight for practice. “It was unfortunate that I could not make it to Bengaluru the last time around (in 2020) having come off a very tiring and demanding week in Pune,” said the Czech who, after winning the title in Pune, had cancelled his Bengaluru leg. “I am really excited and looking forward to playing the Challengers this time. My game is coming good and I hope to put up a good show,” said Vesely, currently ranked 80th on the ATP list after reaching a career-best ranking of 35 in 2015.

Pune-based Arjun was serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set after having annexed the first at 6-4. In a battle of un-forced errors, Arjun lost his serve, but went on to break his opponent’s to win the contest. “I think I served well today, which put me ahead. I did not offer a breakpoint to him until the second set,” the 28-year-old Arjun said.

The current U-18 national champion and promising Karan began on the right note, matching his opponent stroke for stroke, undeterred that the Japanese is ranked over 1,250 places above him. After both the players were locked on 4-4 in the first set, the 18-year-old went 5-4 up before breaking Rio’s serve to take the first set 6-4.

However, the second set saw Karan slip owing to a nagging back injury for which he even had to take a medical break after going 1-4 down and eventually losing 1-6.

He did put up a fight in the decider until the sixth game but caved in midway to lose it 3-6. The tournament will be inaugurated by Revenue Minister R Ashoka, the president of KSLTA, at 9.30 am on Monday.

The second round of the qualifying rounds and five of the first round matches of the main draw will then be held. Entry is free for spectators throughout the week.

RESULTS

Qualifying Round-1

Gabriel Decamps (BRA) bt Sidharth Rawat (Ind) 6-2, 6-4; Antoine Bellier (SUI) bt Elliot Benchetrit (MAR) 6-1, 6-2; Steven Diez (CAN) bt WC-Suraj Prabodh (IND) 6-4, 6-1; 1-Frederico Ferreira Silva (POR) bt Kai Wehnelt (GER) 6-4, 6-2; Rio Noguchi (JPN) bt WC-Karan Singh 4-6, 6-1, 6-3; 3-Borna Gojo (CRO) bt Jaroslav Pospisil (CZE) 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4; 8-Mukund Sasikumar (IND) bt WC-Adil Kalyanpur (IND) 6-2, 6-3; Alt-Arjun Kadhe (IND) bt 6-Johan Nikles (SUI) 6-4, 6-4; 5-Malek Jaziri (TUN) bt Alt-Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam (IND) 7-6 (3), 6-3; Raul Brancaccio (ITA) bt Alt-Dominik Palan (CZE) 5-7, 6-2, 7-5; Andrew Harris (AUS) bt WCNiki Kaliyanda Poonacha 6-4, 6-4; Alexander Erler (AUT) bt Manish Sureshkumar (IND) 6-2, 6-4.