Delhi Open Challenger: Local wildcard Karan Singh could shine, Benjamin Bonzi given the top seed
It will be another chance for the Indian players to jump on the big stage and shine when the $82,000 Delhi Open Challenger starts at the DLTA Complex on Monday.
It will be a particularly good chance for one of the wild card recipients, Karan Singh who has been training at the venue for quite some time, and had played a lot of good tennis in the national and international events from his junior days.
Karan will be up against the seventh seed Federico Gaio of Italy in the first round on Monday afternoon, after the final rounds of qualifying event are completed in the morning.
Following him on court will be Mukund Sasikumar who had played a brilliant game for two rounds before being downed by an upset stomach in the quarterfinals of the Challenger last week in Pune.
It will be a very strong field even though the champion of the Chennai Challenger in the current series of four events, Sumit Nagal has moved back to the big league. The fact that Benjamin Bonzi, Adam Walton and Valentin Vacherot lead the seedings list shows the high quality of the field. And also the fact that none of the Indian players could get direct entry on the basis of their rank, forget about being seeded, gives further clarity about the strength of competition.
READ | Pune Challenger 2024: Vacherot beats Walton in tough battle, clinches season’s third title
Ramkumar Ramanathan is the other wild card and will play Tristan Schoolkate in the first round.
Of the six Indians in the qualifying event, only Siddharth Vishwakarma could make it to the second and final round. Niki Poonacha retired early in the second set against Dan Added of France, who will face Vishwakarma on Monday.
Overall, it should be a week of lively action and entertaining tennis.
The seedings: 1. Benjamin Bonzi (Fra), 2. Adam Walton (Aus), 3. Valentin Vacherot (Mon), 4. Dalibor Svrcina (Cze), 5. Oliver Crawford (GBR), 6. Seongchan Hung (Kor), 7. Federico Gaio (Ita), 8. Goncalo Oliveira (Por).