Mysuru Open 2023: Six Indians qualify for main draw

Six Indian players qualified for the main draw of the Cycle Pure Agarbathi ITF Mysuru Open 2023 after producing power-packed performances in the qualifying rounds at the Mysuru Tennis Club on Monday.

The top seed of the qualifiers Siddharth Vishwakarma put up a dominating display to secure a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Deepak Anantharamu. Like Vishwakarma, Vishnu Vardhan also had an easy day at the office as he prevailed in two sets against Yash Chaurasia by a 6-1, 6-1 scoreline.

On the other hand, Faisal Qamar and Fardeen Quamar had to grind hard to secure their berths in the main draw. While Faisal beat Lakshit Sood by 7-6 (3), 7-6 (1), Fardeen ousted Pruchya Isaro of Thailand with a 3-6, 7-6 (3) [10-5] tie-breaker win.

Ishaque Eqbal and Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan were the other two Indians that advanced to the main draw after their respective opponents retired from the match due to injuries.

The USD 25,000 event is being hosted by the Karnataka Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA).

On Tuesday, eight Indians including Suraj Prabodh, Rishi Reddy, Madhwin Kamath, Sidharth Rawat, Karan Singh and Sandesh Kurale, and the qualifying winners Eqbal and Faisal will kick off the country's campaign in the singles main draw of the tournament.

Alongside Indians, Dali Blanch of the USA and Grigoriy Lomakin of Kazakhstan will also be in action. Meanwhile, Evgeny Donskoy withdrew from the tournament due to an injury.

Earlier in the day, Woobin Shin of South Korea and Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong of Malaysia also secured their places in the main draw after defeating Bharat Nishok Kumaran (6-2, 6-3) and Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam (6-4, 4-6 [10-7]) respectively.

The ongoing tournament marks the return of ITF tennis to Mysuru after 8 years and will take place at the Mysuru Tennis Club till April 2.

(except from agency)