Four Indians qualify for ITF M15 New Delhi Singles Main Draw

Poonacha, Qamar and Bocchi register opening round wins as the Main Draw action gets underway

 The ITF Men’s $15,000 New Delhi qualifiers concluded today with the final round matches being held today at the RK Khanna Tennis Stadium, New Delhi. From the six qualifiers’ spots up for grabs in the singles qualifying, four Indians – Ishaque Eqbal, Siddharth Vishwakarma, Muthu Aadithiya Senthilkumar and Suraj R Prabodh – have advanced to the Main Draw action which started today with three matches on the schedule of the day.

Niki K Poonacha, Fardeen Qamar and Lorenzo Bocchi beat their respective opponents in their singles first round clash in the Main Draw Round of 32.

The match between 2019 National Winner Poonacha and wildcard entrant Nishant Dabas lasted for two hours in which Poonacha prevailed in three sets 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

19-year-old Dev Javia, who earned his Main Draw appearance at the tournament by the virtue of being ITF Top 100 ranked junior in the world, played wildcard entrant Fardeen Qamar (20) and lost a well-contested three setter 4-6, 6-4, 3-6.

Lorenzo Bocchi beat Dhruv Sunish in straight sets 7-6, 6-0 in third and final singles round one match of the day.

After conclusion of the qualifying rounds, the draw of 32 consists of 18 Indians in the field who will be keen to keep the winner’s title home in the sixth and final event of the Indian swing of ITF World Tennis Tour tournaments scheduled in March 2021 as international tennis returned to India after Covid-19 induced break.

Sidharth Rawat, ATP singles rank 473^rd, is seeded number one in the main draw, followed by 543^rd ranked Irishman Simon Carr. Aidan McHugh (544^th) of Great Britain and American Oliver Crawford (576^th) rounds up as third and fourth seeds, respectively.

The singles and doubles first round action will continue tomorrow.

Doubles action also starts at the ITF M15 New Delhi

All Italian pairing of Marco Brugnerotto and Davide Pozzi started their doubles campaign with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Swiss-Czech duo of Luca Castelnuovo and Dominik Palan.

In an all-India doubles first round match, the duo of Rishi Reddy and Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam outplayed compatriots Sahil Gaware and Gunjan Jadhav 6-3, 6-1. Meanwhile, the duo of S D Prajwal Dev and Nitin Kumar Sinha was ousted from the tournament by Czech-Hungarian pairing of Dalibor Svrcina and Zsombor Velcz in a 1 hour and 42 minutes long tussle, 4-6, 7-6, 6-10.

The day’s action concluded with one more all-India doubles first round match between the duos of Manish Sureshkumar & Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan defeated N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth & Vishnu Vardhan. Sureshkumar and Virali-Murugesan advanced to second round after 7-6, 1-6, 10-7 win in one hour 33 minutes.

RESULTS:

Singles Qualifying (Round Three):

Ishaque Eqbal (IND) bt Omni Kumar [5] (USA) 2-6, 7-6, 10-8; Alexander Kotzen [1] (USA) bt Vishnu Vardhan (IND) 6-3, 6-3; Siddharth Vishwakarma (IND) bt Rishi Reddy [10] (IND) (Retd.) 6-2; Henry Patten [7] (GBR) bt Nitin Kumar Sinha [6] (IND) 6-1, 6-4; Muthu Aadithiya Senthilkumar [12] (IND) bt Faisal Qamar (IND) 6-1, 6-3; Suraj R Prabodh (IND) bt Preston Brown (USA) 7-5, 6-4.

Singles (Main Draw, Round One):

Fardeen Qamar (IND) bt Dev Javia (IND) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (IND) bt Nishant Dabas (IND) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2; Lorenzo Bocchi (ITA) bt Dhruv Sunish (IND) 7-6, 6-0.

Doubles (Main Draw, Round One):

Marco Brugnerotto (ITA) / Davide Pozzi (ITA) bt Luca Castelnuovo (SUI) / Dominik Palan (CZE) 6-2, 7-5; Jonathan Binding (GBR) / Henry Patten (GBR) bt Filip Bergevi (SWE) / Jonathan Mridha (SWE) 6-2, 6-4; Simor Carr (IRL) / Alexander Kotzen (USA) bt Paras Dahiya (IND) / Parikshit Somani (IND) 6-4, 6-3; Dalibor Svrcina (CZE) / Zsombor Velcz (HUN) bt S D Prajwal Dev (IND) / Nitin Kumar Sinha (IND) 6-4, 6-7, 10-6; Rishi Reddy (IND) / Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam (IND) bt Sahil Gaware (IND) / Gunjan Jadhav (IND) 6-3, 6-1; Manish Sureshkumar (IND) / Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) bt N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) / Vishnu Vardhan (IND) 7-6, 1-6, 10-7.