Manish Sureshkumar, ranked 877th in the world, displayed remarkable resilience and determination to overcome the challenge of second seed Khumoyun Sultanov of Uzbekistan in the first round of the $25,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament in New Delhi.
Sultanov, ranked 329th, appeared to be in control of the match, serving for victory at 6-4, 5-4. However, Sureshkumar refused to surrender, winning the next three games to level the set at 5-5. The Indian then held his serve in the 11th game, capitalizing on his fifth game point to force a tiebreaker.
In the tiebreaker, Sureshkumar’s aggressive play proved too much for Sultanov. The Indian fired 11 aces throughout the match and converted six of seven break points, ultimately securing a hard-fought 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory.
In another upset, Karan Singh stunned fourth seed S. Mukund 7-6(4), 6-1. Singh showcased his firepower, hitting nine aces and converting three of four break points. After failing to serve out the first set in the tenth game, Singh regrouped and won six consecutive points in the tiebreaker to take the set. He then broke Mukund’s serve twice in the second set to seal the victory.
The tournament also witnessed several exciting doubles matches. Chirag Duhan and Yuichiro Inui of Japan defeated Oges Theyjo and Suraj Prabodh 6-4, 6-7(5), [10-2]. Kazuma Kawachi of Japan and Woobin Shin of Korea cruised past Raghav Jaisinghani and Aditya Balsekar 6-2, 6-0. Nitin Kumar Sinha and Siddharth Vishwakarma beat Parth Aggarwal and Yunseok Jang of Korea 6-2, 6-3. Kabir Hans and Faisal Qamar overcame Thanapet Chanta of Thailand and Rishi Reddy 7-6(9), 6-3. Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul of Thailand and Bang Shuo Yin of Taipei defeated Udit Kamboj and Maan Kesharwani 6-1, 7-5.
