Eighth seed Timofey Skatov proved a hard nut to crack for Karan Singh, as the Kazakh ran away to a 6-4, 6-0 victory in the first round of the Delhi Open ATP 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 nicely plot his way forward with crisp execution.
The 21-year-old Karan, ranked a modest 500, did have the big game as she showed in some entertaining rallies and a few classy winners, but did not have the consistency to make a better fight of it.
Karan conceded far too much ground to his opponent, especially early in the first set, and that proved decisive in setting the tempo for the contest.
READ | Chennai Open ATP Challenger 2025: Jacquet defeats Ymer to claim title
Earlier in the day, Aryan Shah fought hard in the second and final qualifying round before being beaten 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 by the seventh seed Masamichi Imamura of Japan. Aryan had beaten the third seed Blake Ellis of Australia earlier, but could not play at that level in the third set.
Davis Cuppers Ramkumar Ramanathan and S. Mukund will take the court on Tuesday.
Mukund’s opponent, fourth-seeded Lloyd Harris of South Africa, has withdrawn, and been replaced by lucky-loser Sascha Gueymard Wayenburg of France.
Content Source: sportstar.thehindu.com