India’s Sidharth Rawat advances to final round of qualifying in Bengaluru Open

Bengaluru, Jan 4 (PTI) India’s Sidharth Rawat booked his place in the final round of qualifying with a composed 6-3, 7-5 victory over compatriot Nitin Kumar Sinha in the Bengaluru Open here on Sunday.

Rawat claimed the opening set with confidence. Sinha mounted a strong fightback in the second set and broke Rawat’s serve to take the lead. But Rawat responded with two timely breaks of his own to close out the match in straight sets.

In other first-round qualifying matches, Indians Dev Javia and Adil Kalyanpur put up spirited performances but were edged out in three-set battles by higher-ranked opponents, Dominik Palan and Eero Vasa, respectively.

Also advancing to the final round of qualifying, scheduled for Monday morning, were Kuan-Yi Lee of Chinese Taipei, Ryotaro Taguchi and Jumpei Yamasaki of Japan, Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong of Malaysia, Aziz Ouakaa of Tunisia, Niels Visker of the Netherlands, and Frenchmen Arthur Reymond and Felix Balshaw.

Main draw action will begin on Monday afternoon. Wildcard entrant Manas Dhamne will take on fifth seed Matej Dodig of Croatia, followed by a marquee all-Indian clash between former champion Sumit Nagal and local favourite SD Prajwal Dev. PTI PDS PDS BS BS