Karnataka Open ATP 50 Challenger: Kriish, Manish, Mukund win; top Indian Karan ousted

Kriish Tyagi scored a 6-2, 7-5 win over qualifier Taiyo Yamanaka of Japan at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium.

Bengaluru: With his trademark tresses now cut short and his on-court swag seemingly upgraded to a more mature style, wild card entrant Kriish Tyagi posted an opening round win at the Karnataka Open ATP 50 Challenger here on Tuesday. 

As one of the few Indian teen talents on the radar for a few years now, the 19-year-old Bengaluru boy scored a 6-2, 7-5 win over qualifier Taiyo Yamanaka of Japan at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium. 

Back home after moving to the USA a year ago to study and play collegiate tennis at the Texas A&M University, Kriish is competing in his first Tour-level tournament of the season. And the local hope set the right tone from the word go by breaking his opponent's serve in the very first game. Holding serve quite comfortably, Kriish broke Yamanaka again in the seventh game before serving out the first set 6-2.

Ranked 1322 in the world, Kriish was expected to dominate the second set as well. But the 24-year-old Japanese (world No. 857), looking more comfortable on the court, served accurately and returned cleanly to counter his Indian opponent's attacks. With both players holding fort, Kriish finally found a breakthrough in the 11th game to go up 6-5. That one break, in the end, was enough for the local lad to seal the deal 7-5. 

In another encounter, Manish Sureshkumar walked out of the court with a smile that has taken over six years to come by. This was because the 26-year-old’s previous ATP Challenger main draw win was in November 2019 at the Maharashtra Open in Pune. On Tuesday, Manish – a regular on the ITF Tour – posted a 6-4, 7-6 (7) win over qualifier Ronit Karki of USA to move into the round of 16. 

Earlier, Mukund Sasikumar brought more delight for the hosts as he stitched together a 6-3, 7-6 (1) victory over Malaysia’s Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong.  

Meanwhile, the lone seeded Indian (at six) at the event, Karan Singh, failed to live up to the expectations, losing 6-7, 3-6 to unseeded Kokoro Isomura of Japan. More disappointment followed as Mysuru’s SD Prajwal Dev lost 1-6, 4-6 to Australia’s Joshua Charton.

Additionally, the other Indian Digvijaypratap Singh's valiant effort came to an end with a (5) 6-7, (5) 6-7 loss to fourth-seeded Philip Sekulic of Australia. 

Results: Roud of 32 (prefix denotes seedings): 4-Philip Sekulic (Aus) bt Digvijaypratap Singh (Ind) 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5); Mukund Sasikumar (Ind) bt Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong (Mas) 6-3, 7-6 (1); 2-Hamish Stewart (GBR) bt Omar Jasika (Aus) 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3; Kokoro Isomura (Jpn) bt 6-Karan Singh (Ind) 7-6 (6), 6-3; Manish Sureshkumar (Ind) bt Q-Ronit Karki (USA) 6-4, 7-6 (7); Q-Alastair Gray (GBR) bt 3-Petr Bar Biryukov 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (3); Joshua Charlton (Aus) bt D Prajwal Dev (Ind) 6-1, 6-4; WC-Kriish Tyagi (Ind) bt Q-Taiyo Yamanaka (Jpn) 6-2, 7-5; Ilya Ivashka bt Kuan-Yi Lee (Tpe) 6-2, 6-0; 1-Keegan Smith (USA) bt Q-Ryotaro Taguchi (Jpn) 6-1, 6-4; Amit Vales (Isr) bt Q-Aditya Vishal Balsekar (Ind) 6-2, 6-2; Q-Christopher Papa (USA) bt Ryuki Matsuda (Jpn) 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-2.