<p>Bengaluru: Less than 24 hours after winning the Karnataka Open ATP 50 Challenger event at the SM Krishna <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/tennis">Tennis </a>Stadium, USA’s Keegan Smith was back practicing at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium tennis courts here on Sunday. </p><p>The 50 ATP points he collected for his victory on Saturday has helped the 27-year-old’s world ranking jump 46 places from 289 to 243. Now, Smith is hungry for more and is eyeing another deep run to gain 50 more points which could see him enter the top-200 when the SM Krishna Memorial tournament gets underway at the same venue from Monday.</p><p>Even at this week’s ATP 50 Challenger, Smith is the top seed for a second time in a row. Similar to the <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/america">American</a>, a large part of the playing field remains the same with those who lost early last week aiming to do better and those who won a few rounds eager to win more. </p>.Tennis star Keegan Smith wins Karnataka Open.<p>In the opening round, Smith will take on India’s Manish Sureshkumar, who won two rounds last week before being knocked out in the pre-quarterfinal. Behind the 6-foot-7-inch American are Great Britain's Alastair Gray and Hamish Stewart, seeded second and third respectively, and Russia’s Petr Bar Biryukov is the fourth seed while Australia's Philip Sekulic -- the runner-up at Karnataka Open -- is fifth. </p><p>All eyes will be on Bengaluru boy Kriish Tyagi who created a flutter as a wild card entrant by reaching the semifinal. The 19-year-old local lad’s good run has helped him climb to 956 from 1322 in the world ranking. Kriish, handed a wild card again, will take on world No. 560 Kuan-Yi Lee of Chinese Taipei in the first round. </p><p>Karan Singh -- the sixth seed last week who exited in the opener -- is again the only seeded Indian at seven. The 22-year-old from Karnal, Haryana is seeking redemption as he hopes to get past Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong of Malaysia in the opener. </p><p><strong>Kshitij stuns Bouzige</strong></p><p>In the first round qualifying which began on Sunday, 17-year-old wild card entrant Aradhya Kshitij scored a 6-3, 7-5 win over Australia’s Moerani Bouzige, ranked 456 in the world.</p><p>The teen will be joined by Nitin Kumar Sinha and Dev Javia - the only other Indians to enter the second round of qualifying. </p>
<p>Bengaluru: Less than 24 hours after winning the Karnataka Open ATP 50 Challenger event at the SM Krishna <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/tennis">Tennis </a>Stadium, USA’s Keegan Smith was back practicing at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium tennis courts here on Sunday. </p><p>The 50 ATP points he collected for his victory on Saturday has helped the 27-year-old’s world ranking jump 46 places from 289 to 243. Now, Smith is hungry for more and is eyeing another deep run to gain 50 more points which could see him enter the top-200 when the SM Krishna Memorial tournament gets underway at the same venue from Monday.</p><p>Even at this week’s ATP 50 Challenger, Smith is the top seed for a second time in a row. Similar to the <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/america">American</a>, a large part of the playing field remains the same with those who lost early last week aiming to do better and those who won a few rounds eager to win more. </p>.Tennis star Keegan Smith wins Karnataka Open.<p>In the opening round, Smith will take on India’s Manish Sureshkumar, who won two rounds last week before being knocked out in the pre-quarterfinal. Behind the 6-foot-7-inch American are Great Britain's Alastair Gray and Hamish Stewart, seeded second and third respectively, and Russia’s Petr Bar Biryukov is the fourth seed while Australia's Philip Sekulic -- the runner-up at Karnataka Open -- is fifth. </p><p>All eyes will be on Bengaluru boy Kriish Tyagi who created a flutter as a wild card entrant by reaching the semifinal. The 19-year-old local lad’s good run has helped him climb to 956 from 1322 in the world ranking. Kriish, handed a wild card again, will take on world No. 560 Kuan-Yi Lee of Chinese Taipei in the first round. </p><p>Karan Singh -- the sixth seed last week who exited in the opener -- is again the only seeded Indian at seven. The 22-year-old from Karnal, Haryana is seeking redemption as he hopes to get past Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong of Malaysia in the opener. </p><p><strong>Kshitij stuns Bouzige</strong></p><p>In the first round qualifying which began on Sunday, 17-year-old wild card entrant Aradhya Kshitij scored a 6-3, 7-5 win over Australia’s Moerani Bouzige, ranked 456 in the world.</p><p>The teen will be joined by Nitin Kumar Sinha and Dev Javia - the only other Indians to enter the second round of qualifying. </p>