Press Release February 14, 2023 – Chennai India.
Qualifier Sumit Nagal kept the Indian flag flying high at the SDAT Stadium with a straight sets upset win over fourth seed Ryan Peniston, of Great Britain, to reach the second round of the Chennai Open ATP Challenger on Tuesday.
Nagal, who won two matches in qualifying to earn his spot in the main draw, needed one hour and 54 minutes to defeat 147th-ranked Peniston 6-4, 6-4. Nagal played refreshingly attacking and forceful tennis right through the match to a creditable win. He will now meet lucky loser Jason Jung for a place in the quarter-finals.
Jung, who lost in the final round of qualifying to India’s Sasikumar Mukund, stepped into the main draw as a lucky loser when Mikhail Kukushkin pulled out the tournament and made the most of his opportunity with a 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 win over Frenchman Harold Mayot.
Indian wildcard Prajnesh Gunneswaran was not as fortunate as a fall in the final set tiebreaker hampered his chances and he bowed out to Britan’s Jay Clarke 6-4, 3-6, 6-7. Two other Indians also joined him on the sidelines as Ramkumar Ramanathan was defeated 3-6, 6-7 by eighth seed Dimitar Kuzmanov and qualifier Sasikumar Mukund went down to Wimbledon doubles champion Max Purcell 2-6, 2-6.
Two other seeded players were also upset in the first round on Tuesday as qualifier Petr Mouza defeated fifth seeded Luca Nardi, of Italy, 6-4, 7-5 while Dane Sweeny knocked out the sixth seed Francesco Maestrelli, also of Italy, 6-3, 6-4.
Second seed James Duckworth managed to avoid the upset bug, scoring a 6-4, 6-2 win over qualifier Carlos Sanchez Jover to book his spot in the round of 16.
Leo Borg, the son of 11-time Grand Slam singles champion Bjorn Borg, put up a tremendous fight in the first match of the day but came up short against Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic, who served out the last game with four consecutive aces to complete the 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 victory and set up a second round clash against Duckworth.
Besides second round singles matches, the doubles event also kicks off on Wednesday with four all-Indian teams – top seeds Sriram Balaji/ Jeevan Neduncheziyan, fourth seeds Vijay Sundar Prashanth/ Anirudh Chandrasekhar, Ramkumar Ramanathan/ Vishnu Vardhan and Sumit Nagal/ Sasikumar Kumund– on the schedule. India’s Arjun Kadhe, who has teamed up with Britain’s Jay Clarke, will also play on Wednesday.
The Chennai Open ATP Challenger is being organized by the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA) and entry for spectators is free throughout the entire week.
Main Draw Singles first round results:
- (2) James Duckworth def. (Q) Carlos Sanchez Jover 6-4, 6-2
- (Q) Sumit Nagal def. (4) Ryan Peniston 6-4, 6-4
- (Q) Petr Nouza def. (5) Luca Nardi 6-4, 7-5
- Dane Sweeny def. (6) Francesco Maestrelli 6-3, 6-4
- (7) Dalibor Svrcina def (Q) Alibek Kachmazov 6-2, 6-3
- (8) Dimitar Kuzmanov def Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-3, 7-6
- Max Purcell def. (Q) Sasikumar Mukund 6-2, 6-2
- Jay Clarke def. (WC) Prajnesh Gunneswaran 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 ·
- Hamad Medjedovic def. Leo Borg 6-1, 4-6, 6-2
- (Q) James McCabe def. Yu Hsiou Hsu 6-1, 6-4
- (LL) Jason Jung def. Harold Mayot 6-3, 1-6, 7-6
Photos by Srividya Balayogi
