PRESS RELEASE
Chennai February 5, 2024: India’s S. D. Prajwal Dev secured a main draw berth by qualifying for the Chennai Open ATP Challenger at the SDAT Stadium on Monday.
Seeded 10th in the qualifying draw, Dev upset the fourth seed Vadym Ursu, of Ukraine, 6-3, 6-3 to secure one of the qualifying berths in the 32-player main draw and he will now face countryman Sumit Nagal, seeded second, on Tuesday.
Top seed Eric Vanshelboim and second seed Bogdan Bobrov were among the others who advanced to the main draw.
Monday also saw the start of the first-round main draw matches with fifth seed Stefano Napolitano scoring a 6-1, 6-2 win over Japan’s Kaichi Uchida.
Czech Republic’s Dominik Palan, Giovanni Fonio and France’s Dan Addad and Italy’s also won first round main draw matches to move into the last 16. Dan’s opponent Akira Santillan of Australia conceded when he lost balance and fell down while chasing a wide forehand and hurt his left knee which he had injured much before.
Tuesday will see three Indians in main draw singles action, Besides Nagal, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sasikumar Mukund will also play their first-round singles matches.
The Chennai Open ATP Challenger is being hosted with the support of the Government of Tamil Nadu and The Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu. The sponsors include Coromandel International (Platinum), Indian Bank (Gold), Kauvery Hospitals (Medical Partner) Lancor Group (Silver). The Park Hotels is the Hospitality Partner, ACT Fibernet is the Fibernet Partner, and Chennai Live is the Digital App partner.
The Chennai Open is the first in a series of ATP Challenger 100 events to be held in India. The tournaments to follow are scheduled to be held at Bengaluru, Pune, and Delhi. Entry for spectators is free and to make it more convenient, organizers have scheduled some matches under flood lights as well.
The Doubles finals will be played on Saturday February 10, 2024 while the singles final has been scheduled for Sunday February 11, 2024. The tournament is looking forward to the participation of the tennis fans from all over Chennai.
Chennai Open ATP Challenger Results, Monday February 5, 2024
Singles Main Draw First Round
● (5) Stefano Napolitano (ITA) def. Kaichi Uchida (JPN) 6-1, 6-2
● Dominik Palan (CZE) def. Arthur Weber (FRA) 6-1, 6-4
● Dan Added (FRA) def. Akira Santillan (AUS) 2-6, 6-4, 4-1 retd.
● Giovanni Fonio (ITA) def. Maxime Janvier (FRA) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
Second Round of Singles Qualifying
● (1) Eric Vanshelboim (UKR) def. (9l Evgeny Karlovskiy 6-2, 6-4
● (2) Bogdan Bobrov def. (12) Enzo Wallart (FRA) 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (3)
● (7) Olaf Pieczkowski (POL) def. (3) Kris Van Wyk (RSA) 6-4, 6-3
● (10) S D Prajwal Dev (IND) def. (4) Vadym Ursu (UKR) 6-3, 6-3
● (5) Jonas Forejtek (CZE) def. (11) Luca Castelnuovo (SUI) 6-4, 6-3
● Alexey Zakharov def. (6) Yurii Dzhavakian (UKR) 6-3, 6-3