Eighth seed Timofei Skatov proved a hard nut to crack for Karan Singh as the Kazakh ran away a 6-4, 6-0 victor in the first round of the Dafa News $100,000 Delhi Open Challenger tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex on Monday.
The experience and expertise of the 24-year-old Kazakh, who was ranked a career-best 123 in 2023, was evident in the way he studied the Indian’s game and the slow conditions to plot his way forward with crisp execution.
The 21-year-old Karan, ranked a modest 500, did have the big game as he showed in some entertaining rallies and a few classy winners, but not the consistency to make a better fight of it.
Karan conceded far too much ground, especially early in the first set, and that proved decisive in setting the tempo for the contest.
Earlier, Aryan Shah fought hard in the second and final qualifying round before being beaten 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 by seventh seed Masamichi Imamura of Japan. Aryan had defeated third seed Blake Ellis of Australia, but could not play that level in the third set.
The two top players of the country, Davis Cuppers Ramkumar Ramanathan and S. Mukund, will take the court on Tuesday.
There was brightened hope for the Indian camp as Mukund’s opponent, fourth-seeded Lloyd Harris of South Africa withdrew, and was replaced by lucky-loser Sascha Wayenburg of France.
The results: First round: Michael Geerts (Bel) bt Zsombor Piros (Hun) 6-3, 7-5; Timofey Skatov (Kaz) bt Karan Singh 6-4, 6-0.
Published - February 10, 2025 07:07 pm IST
