India’s Singles Challenge Ends, Doubles Stars Rise in Chennai

India’s top-ranked men’s singles player and former champion Sumit Nagal suffered a second-round exit at the Chennai Open ATP Challenger tournament being held at the SDAT Tennis Stadium. In a closely fought contest lasting over two hours, Nagal went down 6-4, 6-7, 3-6 to Russia’s Petr Bar Biryukov . Nagal began strongly, clinching the opening set and appearing in control, but failed to convert crucial break-point opportunities in the second set, which slipped into a tie-break. Biryukov capitalised on the momentum shift and carried it into the decider, breaking at key moments to seal victory and end India’s singles challenge in the tournament.

Indian qualifier Siddharth Rawat also bowed out after a straight-sets defeat to Poland’s Maks Kasnikowski , who advanced comfortably to the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, fourth seed Ilia Simakin staged an impressive comeback win over Australia’s Philip Sekulic , prevailing 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(1) in a marathon encounter to set up a quarterfinal clash with Biryukov. As an ATP Challenger 50 event, the Chennai Open offers valuable ranking points and serves as an important platform for emerging and mid-level professionals aiming to break into higher-tier ATP competitions.

While the singles draw brought disappointment for the home contingent, Indian players delivered strong performances in the doubles category. Top seeds Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha and Thailand’s Pruchya Isaro stormed into the semifinals with a commanding 6-4, 6-1 victory over wild card entrants Lohithaksha Badrinath and Abhinav Sanjeev . They will now face another Indian pair, third seeds S.D. Prajwal Dev and Nitin Sinha , who rallied to defeat Ishaque Eqbal and Manish Sureshkumar in a tense match tie-break. However, second seeds Siddhant Banthia and Saketh Myneni were knocked out after losing in straight sets to the Indo-British combination of Sasikumar Mukund and Jay Clarke . With two Indian pairs in the semifinals, the host nation’s hopes now rest firmly on the doubles draw as the tournament heads into its decisive stages.