Pune, February 18 2024: Former world no. 24 Vasek Pospisil of Canada, who entered as the qualifying wildcard. upset fifth seeded Chun-Hsin Tseng 6-1, 6-4 to enter the second and final round of qualifying at the PMRDA Maha Open ATP Challenger 100 Men’s International Tennis Championship organised by Maharashtra State Lawn tennis Association (MSLTA) at the Mhalunge Balewadi Tennis Stadium.

The premier level ATP Challenger, which is sponsored by Pune Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (PMRDA), saw three Indian qualifying wildcards Aditya Balsekar, Siddanth Banthia and young Arnav Paparkar being out-powered by their opponents, ending their challenge.

Birthday boy and 16 year old Arnav Paparkar who made his ATP Challenger debut displayed tremendous energy but went down to an experienced Felix Gill of Great Britain.

The Twelfth seeded Felix Gill scored a 6-3, 6-4 win over fighting Arnav Paparkar in 1 hour 13 minute match.

Top seed in the qualifying and former world no 42 Benjamin Bonzi of France was given a fight by local wild card Siddanth Banthia before winning 6-3, 6-4 in just over an hour.

In a match featuring another Indian player former world No 17 and the fourth seed Bernard Tomic of Australia scored a 6-3,6-1 win over Vishal Balsekar in 1 hour and 13 minutes match.

Two Indian players and wild card Sasikumar Mukund and Niki Poonacha will be in action tomorrow (Monday).

Results Qualifying First Round:

[4] Bernard Tomic (AUS) bt [WC] Vishal Balsekar (IND) 6-3,6-1

[12] Felix Gill (GBR) [WC] bt Arnav Paparkar (IND) 6-3,6-4

[1] Benjamin Bonzi (FRA) bt [WC] Siddanth Banthia (IND) 6-3,6-4

[WC] Vasek Pospisil (CAN) bt [5] Chun-Hsin Tseng (TPE) 6-1,6-4

[3] Evegeny Donskoy bt [Alt] Yuri Dzhavakian (UKR) 6-7(5),6-1,6-0

[PR] Alexey Zakharov bt [6] Moez Echargui (TUN) 5-7,6-4,6-3

Vadym Ursu (UKR) bt[8] Samuel Vincent Ruggeri (ITA) 7-6(3),1-6,6-0

Yun Seong Chung (KOR)bt [11] Rio Noguchi (JPN) 7-5,7-6(5)