New Delhi, Feb 16 (IANS) India’s Karan Singh went down in a three-set battle to seventh seed Daniel Michalski of Poland in first-round main draw action at the 2026 Delhi Open on Monday. The ATP Challenger 75 event, now in its sixth edition, is being held at the DLTA Complex from February 16 to 22, with 32 men’s singles players and 16 doubles teams competing for the title.

Speaking on his win, Michalski said, “I was already with one foot outside of the tournament. Then my game came back, and I showed way better tennis at the end. Tennis on the higher level is a sport of very tiny margins.”

In other first-round main draw matches, fifth seed Oliver Crawford of Great Britain scored a hard-fought 7-6, 6-5 win over Croatia’s Duje Ajdukovic, while Belgium’s Michael Geerts defeated Lithuania’s Edas Butvilas 6-3, 7-5.

In final-round qualifying action on Monday, India’s Manish Sureshkumar fought back from a 5-3 deficit in the second set to score a 6-3, 7-5 win over Korea’s Uisung Park. The 26-year-old is the only Indian to make it out of the qualifying draw and was understandably happy with his performance on a court which he described as one of his favourites.

“This is one of my favourite courts because I’ve played a lot of matches. Even the two Nationals I have won have been on this court. So, this court is really special for me, and I was really happy about the way I played today. I hung in there because I was down a break in the second set, but very happy and pulled off this match,” he said after his win.

Sureshkumar got into the qualifying draw at the last minute as an alternate but is certainly making the most of the opportunity. “Sometimes unexpected things happen when you don’t expect things to happen, and I think this is one of them, and I just want to keep the momentum going in the main draw. I don’t think I have any pressure because all of them are really good players. I’m kind of the underdog, so I just want to keep the momentum going now.”

The other Indian in the final round of qualifying – Ramkumar Ramanthan – went down in straight sets to Korea’s Hyeon Chung, who has been ranked as high as No. 19 in the world and had previously defeated Novak Djokovic en route to the semi-finals of the 2018 Australian Open. The 29-year-old is currently ranked No. 393 in the world after returning to the tour in late 2024 following persistent back injuries that forced him off the circuit.

Top seed Denis Yevseyev of Kazakhstan, second seed Ioannis Xilas of Greece, fourth seed Maks Kasnikowski of Poland, and seventh seed Alexandr Binda of Italy also came through their final round qualifying matches to book their spots in the main draw.

Somdev Devvarman is the only Indian singles champion in the tournament’s history, having won back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015, whereas there have been all-Indian doubles champions twice in the past, with Saketh Myneni/Sanam Singh and Yuki Bhambri/Mahesh Bhupathi lifting the trophy in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

As part of the ATP Challenger 75 series, the tournament will award 75 ranking points to the singles and doubles champions, 50 points to the doubles runners-up, and 44 points to the singles runner-up. The singles champion will receive $17,000 in prize money, with the runner-up earning $9,600. The doubles champions will split $4,980, while the runners-up will split $2,880.

Day 2 results:

Men’s singles main draw – first round:

[5] Oliver Crawford (GBR) d. Duje Ajdukovic (CRO) 7-6 (3), 7-5

[7] Daniel Michalski (POL) d. [WC] Karan Singh (IND) 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3

Michael Geerts (BEL) d. Edas Butvilas (LTU) 6-3, 7-5

Men’s Singles qualifying – final round:

[1/Alt] Denis Yevseyev (KAZ) d. Alexander Donski (BUL) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1

[2] Ioannis Xilas (GRE) d. [10] Eric Vanshelboim (UKR) 6-3, 6-2

[3] Hyeon Chung (KOR) d. [WC] Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-2, 6-2

[4] Maks Kasnikowski (POL) d. [Alt] Grigoriy Lomakin (KAZ) 6-1, 6-2

[7] Alexandr Binda (ITA) d. [6] Luca Castelnuovo (SUI) walkover

[Alt] Manish Sureshkumar (IND) d. [Alt] Uisung Park (KOR) 6-3, 7-5

–IANS

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