Chennai, Feb 11 (.) Top seeded Jay Clarke of Great Britian suffered a shocking first round exit from the Singles event at the Chennai Open ATP Challenger Men’s International Tennis Championship currently underway at the SDAT Stadium, here on Wednesday.
However, the top two seeded Indian pairs in doubles–Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha / Pruchya Isaro and Saketh Myneni / Siddhant Banthia–advanced to the quarterfinals, even
as Ioannis Xilas of Greece scored a 4-6, 4-6 hard fought up set win over Jay Clarke in the Singles.
Clarke, ranked No. 183 in the ATP rankings, broke Greece’s Ioannis Xilas early in the first set to take a 3-0 lead. But the 24-year-old Xilas struck back strongly, breaking serve and controlling the match to register a 6-4, 6-4 win.
In another first-round singles match, Indian qualifier Aryan Lakshmanan (ATP No. 1824) competed strongly in the opening set before going down to Poland’s Maks Kasnikowski (ATP No. 419) 7-5, 6-2.
In second-round singles action, India’s Mukund Sasikumar won the first set before losing to Kazakhstan’s Denis Yevseyev 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Yevseyev was joined in the quarter-finals by second seed Federico Agustin Gomez of Argentina, who defeated Italy’s Lorenzo Carboni
6-3, 6-4.
In doubles, top seeds Poonacha/Isaro, who made their Grand Slam debut at last month’s Australian Open after winning the Asia-Pacific Wildcard Playoff, defeated Indian pair Sai Karteek Reddy Ganta/Digvijaypratap Singh 6-4, 6-2 to reach the last eight.
“We executed our game with high energy and controlled the points. Overall, we played solid,” Poonacha said after the win. “Playing in Chennai always feels like home — perfect weather, great infrastructure and very humble people. Hopefully we will go deeper in the tournament,” he added.
Second seeds Myneni/Banthia battled back from a set down to beat Yevseyev/Eric Vanshelboim 2-6, 6-1, 10-2 in the match tie-break to also reach the quarter-finals. Myneni is aiming to reach the final of the Chennai Open Challenger for the third consecutive year after winning the title in 2024 and finishing runner-up in 2025 (both times partnering Ramkumar Ramanathan).
Two other Indian pairs also advanced to the last eight. Wildcards Lohithaksha Bathrinath/Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam defeated fellow Indians Manas Dhamne/Atharva Sharma 6-3, 2-6, 10-8, while Ishaque Eqbal/Manish Sureshkumar overcame the Indo-British duo of Raghav Jaisinghani/Carl Holder 3-6, 6-1, 10-3.
Second-round singles action will continue on Thursday with India No. 1 Sumit Nagal taking on big-serving Petr Bar Biryukov, while qualifier Sidharth Rawat faces Kasnikowski.
Singles :
First Round:
Ioannis Xilas (GRE) def. [1] Jay Clarke (GBR) 6-4, 6-4
Maks Kasnikowski (POL) def. [Q] Aryan Lakshmanan (IND) 7-5, 6-2
Singles :
Second Round:
[2] Federico Agustin Gomez (ARG) def. Lorenzo Carboni (ITA) 6-3, 6-4
Denis Yevseyev (KAZ) def. Mukund Sasikumar 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
Doubles :
First Round:
[1] Pruchya Isaro (THA)/ Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (IND) def. Sai Karteek Reddy Ganta (IND)/ Digvijaypratap Singh (IND) 6-4, 6-2
[2] Siddhant Banthia (IND) Saketh Myneni (IND) def. Eric Vanshelboim (UKR)/ Denis Yevseyev (KAZ) 2-6, 6-1, 10-2
Lohithaksha Bathrinath/ (IND) Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam (IND) def. Manas Dhamne (IND)/ Atharva Sharma (IND) 6-3, 2-6, 10-8
Felix Gill (GBR)/ Alastair Gray (GBR) def. Francis Casey Alcantara (PHI)/ Adil Kalyanpur (IND) 6-2, 7-6 (5)
Ishaque Eqbal (IND)/ Manish Sureshkumar (IND) def. [Alt] Carl Holder (GBR)/ Raghav Jaisinghani (IND) 3-6, 6-1, 10-3.
. GV 1910