Ranzi Sports

The aspirations for a positive narrative in Indian men’s singles tennis were dashed on Tuesday at the Bengaluru Open, as Ramkumar Ramanathan, Karan Singh, and Manas Dhamne all faced defeats in their opening matches at the KSLTA courts.

These losses resulted in only one Indian player, Mukund Sasikumar, managing to secure a victory out of the six who participated in the singles main draws across four ATP Challengers held in Chennai, Delhi, Pune, and Bengaluru this month. The overall win-loss record stood at a disappointing 1-13.

Karan Singh showcased his aggressive first-strike tennis, going toe-to-toe with Austria’s Jurij Rodionov. However, after leading 3-2 in the deciding-set tiebreak, he faltered, losing five consecutive points and exiting the match with a score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(3).

Indian teenage talent Manas Dhamne’s campaign at the Bengaluru Open concluded in the opening round, despite a commendable effort against qualifier Petr Bar Biryukov.

Dhamne dropped the first set 6-3 but made a strong comeback to take the second set by the same score.

The 17-year-old then battled through to a tiebreak in the third set, yet was unable to counter Biryukov’s powerful first serve, ultimately leading to his defeat.

Karan Singh and young talent Manas Dhamne made every effort to lift the spirits but ultimately succumbed after three grueling sets.

In other outcomes, former World No. 17 Bernard Tomic staged a remarkable comeback, overcoming a set deficit to defeat qualifier Ilia Simakin with scores of 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4.

Tomic’s fellow Australian, second seed Tristan Schoolkate, faced an early challenge but managed to prevail against Khumoyun Sultanov, winning 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-3 to advance to the next round.

Meanwhile, fifth seed Kyrian Jacquet, who recently won the Delhi Open singles title, experienced an unexpected loss, succumbing to unseeded James McCabe with a scoreline of 6-7(8), 6-1, 6-2.