Strong Start for Indians in Coromandel Chennai Open ATP Challenger Qualifying
~Nine Indians win first round qualifying matches; four all-Indian final round qualifying matches lined up for Monday~
Chennai, February 8, 2026: Indian players enjoyed a strong start at the Coromandel Chennai Open ATP Challenger Men’s International Tennis Championship 2026, as nine local players won their first-round qualifying matches at the SDAT Tennis Stadium, Nungambakkam, on Sunday.
Fourth seed Nitin Kumar Sinha had a comfortable outing against compatriot Oges Theyjo Jaya Prakash, winning 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and three minutes, while sixth seed Ishaque Eqbal registered a dominant 6-2, 6-0 victory over Great Britain’s Carl Holder in exactly one hour.
Indian players also produced notable upsets. Sai Karteek Reddy Ganta, who entered the draw as an alternate, knocked out fifth seed Grigoriy Lomakin of Kazakhstan 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, while 20-year-old left-hander Aryan Lakshmanan eased past eighth seed Vadym Konovchuk of Ukraine 6-2, 6-1.
In the closest match of the day, 12th seed Aditya Vishal Balsekar battled for close to three hours before edging past fellow Indian Lohithaksha Bathrinath 7-6, 4-6, 6-4. Tenth seed Adil Kalyanpur also came through a three-set contest, defeating compatriot Atharva Sharma 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.
Third seed Timofei Derepasko avoided an upset as he beat Indian wildcard Aniketh Venkataraman 6-1, 6-4.
The top two seeds in the qualifying draw — India’s S.D. Prajwal Dev and Malaysia’s Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong — received byes into the final round of qualifying, which will be played on Monday. A total of 12 players will compete for six qualifying spots in the 32-player main draw of the ATP Challenger 50 event.
Great Britain’s Jay Clarke is the top seed in the singles main draw, followed by Argentina’s Federico Agustin Gomez, Great Britain’s Oliver Crawford, and Ilia Simakin. Seven Indian players, led by top-ranked Sumit Nagal, Karan Singh, and 18-year-old Manas Dhamne, are already in the main draw.
With four all-Indian final-round qualifying matches scheduled for Monday, India is set to have a strong presence, with the total number of Indian players in the main draw expected to rise to 11.
Singles Qualifying First Round Qualifying – 1st Round
[9] Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam (IND) w.o [Alt] Saketh Myneni (IND)
[11] Raghav Jaisinghani (IND) beat [WC] Muthu Aadhitiya Senthilkumar (IND) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
[3] Timofei Derepasko beat [WC] Aniketh Venkataraman (IND) 6-1, 6-4
[12] Aditya Vishal Balsekar (IND) beat [Alt] Lohithaksha Bathrinath (IND) 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4
[4] Nitin Kumar Sinha (IND) beat [WC] Oges Theyjo JAYA PRAKASH (IND) 6-4, 6-1
[10] Adil Kalyanpur (IND) beat [Alt] Atharva Sharma (IND) 7-5, 4-6, 6-1
[Alt] Sai Karteek Reddy Ganta (IND) beat [5] Grigoriy Lomakin (KAZ) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
[6] Ishaque Eqbal (IND) beat Carl Holder (GBR) 6-2, 6-0
[7] Siddhant Banthia (IND) beat [WC] Keerthivassan Suresh (IND) 7-6(1), 6-1
About theTournament
Coromandel International Limited is now the Title sponsor, G Square is an Associate Sponsor while Lancor Holdings is a co-sponsor. Apollo Hospital is the Medical Partner, The Park Hotels is the Hospitality partner while ACT Fibernet is the Fibernet Partner.
The main draw consists of 32 players – 21 direct acceptances, 2 Special exempts, 3 wild cards, 6 qualifiers. Qualifying consists of 24 players with 4 wild cards. The prize money for the event is USD 63,000/- (Rs.60 lakhs). Prize Money for Singles Winner is US Dollars 9,500 Indian rupees 8,64,500 .and will get 50 ranking points, while the Runner-Up will receive US Dollars 5,500 (Rs 5,00,500 and will get 25 ranking points. Double pair winners will receive US Dollars 2,980 (Rs 2,71,180 and Runners-Up USD 1,740 (Rs 1,58,340). The Chennai Open is the first of a series of ATP Challenger events to be held in India with events in Delhi and Pune to follow.
Entry for spectators to witness the matches is free. The playing sessions of the Main Draw will start on Monday the 9th of February from 10 AM onwards and continue under floodlights if required. The Doubles finals will be played on Saturday 14th February 2026 while the singles finals are slated for Sunday 15th February 2026. The tournament is looking forward to the participation of the sports and tennis fans from Chennai.
Order of Play for Monday, 09 Feb 2026:
