Indian wildcard Poonacha upsets Oliveira to enter second round Former top 50 players Tomic, Pospisil qualify for main draw at PMRDA MahaOpen ATP Challenger 100 Men’s ITennis Championships

Indian wildcard Poonacha upsets Oliveira to enter second round 

Former top 50 players Tomic, Pospisil qualify for main draw at PMRDA MahaOpen ATP Challenger 100 Men’s ITennis Championships

Pune : Indian wildcard entrant Niki Kaliynada Poonacha justified his wildcard in the main draw getting off to a flying start with a thrilling three-set win over Portugal's Goncalo Oliveira at the PMRDA MahaOpen ATP Challenger 100 Men’s Championships, organised by Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) and supported by Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) Poonacha, ranked No 791 in the world required two hours and 37 minutes to oust the 215th-ranked Goncalo Oliveira 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 at the Mhalunge Balewadi Tennis Stadium and enter the second round.

 Better known for his doubles prowess on the tour, the 28-year-old Poonacha, who made his Davis Cup singles debut for India and helped the team score a 4-0 win over Pakistan earlier this month continued his good season in singles making it to the round of sixteen awaiting the winner of the match between top seed Sumit Nagal and Yu Hsiou Hsu 

Fifth seed Dalibor Svrcina also advanced to the second round with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Australia's Philip Sekulic.

Earlier in the day, the second and final round of qualifying matches got completed with six players punching their tickets into the 32-player main draw. 

Former world No. 17 Bernard Tomic easily defeated Ukraine's Vadym Ursu 6-2, 6-2 while former world No. 25 Vasek Pospisil hard to work hard for a 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 win in two hours and 52 minutes over Japn’s Kaichi Uchida.

However, former top 50 player and qualifying top seed Benjamin Bonzi, who reached the final of the ATP 250 event in Pune last year, was eliminated by Belgium’s Raphael Collignon 5-7, 7-6, 3-6 in the final round of qualifying. 

Singles Main Draw First Round

• [5] D. Svrcina (CZE) def. P. Sekulic (AUS) 6-4, 6-3

• [WC] N. Kaliyanda Poonacha (IND) vs G. Oliveira (POR) 6-3, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3)

• T. Schoolkate (AUS) def. G. Blancaneaux (FRA) 7-6 (7). 6-3

• [8] F. Gaio (ITA) vs [WC] M. Sasikumar (IND)

• T. Wu (TPE) vs G. Onclin (BEL)

 

Final Round Qualifying Results: 

• R. Collignon (BEL) def. [1] B. Bonzi (FRA) 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-3

• [9] S. Fanselow (GER) def. [2] E. Dalla Valle (ITA) 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3

• [12] F. Gill (GBR) def. [3] E. Donskoy 7-5, 6-2

• [4] B. Tomic (AUS) def. V. Ursu (UKR) 6-2, 6-2

• Zakharov def. Y. Chung (KOR) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4

• [WC] V. Pospisil (CAN) def. K. Uchida (JPN) 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-2