Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 12 : Rising Indian player Karan Singh fought his heart out against second seed Dan Added as the home players endured a tough day in the opening round of the singles qualifiers at the Bangalore Open 2024 at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday.
Wild card entrant 20-year-old Karan made life tough for his French rival, fighting tooth and nail in a gruelling contest before losing 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-7(9) in the opening round that lasted two hours and 46 minutes.
Sasikumar Mukund also fell 4-6, 3-6 to fourth-seed Italian S Vincent Ruggeri.
Former national champion Siddarth Vishwakarma, who entered the field as an alternate, also battled hard against seventh seed Ukrainian Eric Vanshelboim but eventually lost 4-6, 4-6.
The prestigious tournament is being organised by the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA). The final will be played on February 18.
Two more Indian wild cards Niki Poonacha and Adil Kalyanpur also could not make the most of the opportunity, making an early exit.
Poonacha, who made a winning Davis Cup debut last week in Islamabad, also exited the event with a 3-6, 4-6 defeat against top seed Austrian Bernard Tomic, who was once a Top-20 player on the Tour.
Adil lost 4-6, 3-6 to eighth seed Korean Yun Seong Chung. Moving to the next round were French Enzo Wallart and South African Kris Van Wyk. Wallart set aside the challenge of Japanese sixth seed Kaichi Uchida while Van Wyk pushed out Poland's Olaf Pieczkowski 6-3 6-3.
The main draw will begin on Monday as the opening ceremony will be attended by chief guest R Ashoka, leader of the opposition, Legislative Assembly of Karnataka and President, Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association and inaugurated by Manjunath Prasad, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports Government of Karnataka.
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