CHENNAI: Five Indian players, including Olympian
Vishnu Vardhan made it to the final qualifying round of the
Chennai Open ATP Challenger
tournament here.
The fourth-seeded Vishnu Vardhan, ranked 512 currently, made short work of compatriot Ramakrishnan Rangaraju 6-3, 6-0.
He will meet fifth-seed
Sidharth Rawat
for a spot in the main draw. Rawat routed fellow Indian
Shahbaaz Khan conceding only three games.
Little-known local lad Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam sprung a surprise, beating American Tyler Hochwalt first and then getting the better of eighth-seeded Aryan Goveas 7-6, 4-1 (retired).
Shanmugam will meet Nikola Cacic of Serbia for a place in the main draw.
Top seed in the qualifying Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul of Thailand, got past local player Gokul Suresh 6-2, 6-4.
Haadin Salim Bava, the seventh-seed, ousted national champion Dalwinder Singh 6-0, 7-6(5).
Yuki Bhambri, who will be the second-seed in the main draw, and other Indians including Sumit Nagal, Prajnesh Guneswaran, Saketh Myneni and Sasikumar Mukund, had an intense practice session.
Results - Qualifying Singles (First Round) (Indians unless specified): Suraj Prabodh bt Anurag Nenwani 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-4; Abhinav Shanmugam bt Tyler Hochwalt (USA) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; Luca Margaroli (SUI) bt Jayesh Pungliya 6-2, 6-4; Adil Kalyanpur bt V M Sandeep 6-4, 6-0.
Second Round: Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (THA-X1) bt Gokul Suresh 6-2, 6-4; Nikola Cacic (SRB-X2) bt Suraj Prabodh 6-3, 7-5; Luca Margaroli (SUI) bt Ulises Blanch (USA-X3) 0-1 (retired); Vishnu Vardhan bt Ramakrishnan Rangaraju 6-3, 6-0.
Siddharth Rawat (X5) bt Shahbaaz Khan 6-1, 6-2;
Arjun Kadhe
(X6) bt Adil Kalyanpur 6-3, 6-1; Haadin Salim Bava (X7) bt Dalwinder Singh 6-0, 7-6(5); Abhinav Shanmugam bt Aryan Goveas (X8) 7-6(4), 4-1 (retired).
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