KPIT-MSLTA Challenger: Four Indian players earn maiden draw victories on ATP circuit, National Champion Niki Poonacha eliminated

Pune: Four Indian players, including wild card Aryan Goveas and Manish Sureshkumar, earned their maiden main draw victories on the ATP Challenger circuit to advance to the second round of the KPIT-MSLTA Challenger on Monday. Anirudh Chandrashekar and Chandril Sood, who mostly competes on the doubles circuit, also advanced to the next round at the Balewadi Sports Complex. Manish outwitted local boy and wildcard Anvit Bendre 6-2, 6-0 while upcoming player Chandrasekar erased a one-set deficit to get the better of Kazakhstan’s Timur Khabibulin 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a one-hour 36-minute match. In a one-sided encounter, Chandril rallied past American wildcard Dhruv Mulye 6-1, 6-3 in just over an hour.

What a splendid display of perfection by Manish! Congratulations for beating Anvit Bendre(6-2, 6-0) #CelebratingIndianTennis #AceOnIndia  #ATPChallenger #Tour pic.twitter.com/St9v5BNQ3x

— KPIT Challenger Tour (@KPITChallenger) November 11, 2019

Maharashtra boy Goveas justified the faith of the organisers, scoring a 6-4 7-6(4) win against German Tobias Simon in one hour 19 minutes. It was Goveas’ third attempt to eke out a win as a wildcard in the event. “I am thrilled and really played well. This win will do me a lot of good,” said Goveas, who fired 11 aces to the German’s 15 in the fast-paced match. In another interesting match, the 2018 national champion Siddarth Vishwakarma overcame a sluggish start to make it a contest against Japan’s Yusuke Takahashi but eventually lost 0-6, 6-3, 3-6 in one hour and 38 minutes. Reigning national champion Niki Poonacha also made an early exit, losing 6-7 (3) 3-6 to Ukrainian Danylo Kalenichenko. In another first-round match, Roman Blokhin of Russia ended the challenge of Lakshit Sood 6-4 6-2.