The opening day of the PMRDA Powered MahaOpen ATP Challenger 75 Men’s Tennis Championship delivered its first major upset as former World No. 50 Ilya Ivashka knocked out top seed Federico Agustin Gomez in a hard-fought three-set encounter at the Shiv Chhatrapati Kreeda Sankul, Mhalunge Balewadi Tennis Stadium in Pune on Sunday.
Organised by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) in association with the Department of Sports and Youth Services, Government of Maharashtra, PCMC, PMC and PMDTA, and sponsored by the Pune Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (PMRDA), the ATP Challenger 75 event began with a series of closely contested matches across the main draw and final qualifying rounds.
Ivashka’s victory over Gomez was the standout result of the day. The Belarusian dominated the opening set 6-1 with aggressive baseline play and efficient service games. However, Gomez responded strongly in the second set, levelling the match with an identical 6-1 scoreline. The decider proved to be a tightly contested affair, eventually heading into a tie-break where Ivashka held his composure to close out a 6-1, 1-6, 7-6(7) win after two hours and twenty-five minutes of play.
The result marks a significant early exit for the tournament’s top seed and opens up the top half of the draw as the competition moves into the second round.
Elsewhere in the singles main draw, Japan’s Yuta Shimizu advanced with a straight-sets victory over Italy’s Lorenzo Carboni. Shimizu secured the match 6-4, 6-4, maintaining control throughout both sets to progress without facing a decider.
Britain’s Alastair Gray was pushed to three sets by Poland’s Daniel Michalski in one of the longer matches of the day. After taking the first set 6-3, Gray dropped the second 3-6 before regaining momentum in the final set to seal a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory and move into the next round.
Croatia’s Duje Ajdukovic also progressed comfortably with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Korea’s Shin San-hui, rounding out the key results from the opening day’s main draw matches.
In the final round of qualifying, it proved to be a challenging outing for the Indian contingent. Japan’s Takuya Kumasaka defeated S D Prajwal Dev in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, while Chinese Taipei’s Tung-Lin Wu overcame Digvijaypratap Singh 7-5, 6-4 to secure their respective places in the main draw.
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Poland’s Maks Kasnikowski, Japan’s Masamichi Imamura, Yusuke Takahashi and Malaysia’s Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong were the other players to advance through the qualifying rounds.
With several three-set encounters and the elimination of the top seed on the very first day, the ATP Challenger 75 event has already witnessed competitive match-ups early in the tournament. The results are expected to add further intrigue to the draw as players compete for valuable ATP ranking points and the tournament title in Pune.
The opening day of the championship was inaugurated in the presence of Maharashtra Commissioner of Sports Smt Sheetal Teli-Ugale (IAS), PMRDA Joint Commissioner Mr Deepak Singla (IAS), MSLTA President Mr Prashant Sutar, Hon. Secretary of MSLTA Mr Sunder Iyer, and ATP Supervisor Mr Rogerio Santos.
As the tournament progresses into the later rounds, players will look to build on their opening performances in pursuit of crucial ranking gains in the ATP Challenger circuit.
