In the Bengaluru Open Challenger 125, the hosts’ hopes are pinned on talents like Myneni, Dhamane, Nagal, Prajwal, Aryan and Dakshineswar. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Starting from 2019, in the 16 ATP Challenger tournaments held in India, there has been only one home winner – Sumit Nagal in Chennai in 2024.
On Monday, when the Dafa News Bengaluru Open Challenger 125 begins at the SM Krishna Stadium inside Cubbon Park, Nagal and a group of Indians will be hoping to change this miserable record a bit.
It helps that this year’s tournament, despite being in the second-highest tier of the Challenger Tour, has a lower cut-off. The final direct acceptance into the singles main draw is Eric VanShelboim at No. 472.
Former world No. 4 and 2014 US Open finalist Kei Nishikori, ranked 158, is the last man standing at the Canberra International Challenger, which is being played simultaneously.
Canberra’s geographical proximity to the Australian Open, the season’s first major, probably explains this difference with Bengaluru, but the overall field in the Garden City is also weaker than the previous two editions.
In 2025, Blake Ellis at number 300 was the last direct entry, while in 2024 it was Giovanni Fonio at number 279.
But this should not be held against the event. The Home Challengers are hosted to help local players, and moving the competition from its traditional post-Australian Open window to early January has resulted in more Indians being included in the main draw.
When last year’s four-Challenger swing began in Chennai in February, no Indian except Nagal, ranked 105, was eligible without a wild card. This time in Bengaluru, apart from Nagal, Aryan Shah and Karan Singh – both ranked in the 400s – are in the last 32 on merit.
Dakshineswar Suresh, Manas Dhamane and local player SD Prajwal Dev are the three wildcards, and on Monday Siddharth Rawat could potentially join his countrymen as qualifiers.
However, before they try and reach the title, there are one disappointing number from last season that needs to be rewritten – the Indians finished with a 1-13 win-loss record in the four Challengers.
Thus there is a high bar and a low bar to clear. If both can be managed, it will be in the best interest of Indian tennis.
Qualifying first round (selected results): Siddharth Rawat beats Nitinkumar Sinha 6-3, 7-5; Aziz Ouka (Tun) Bt A. Vishal Balsekar 6-4, 7-6(3); Eero Vasa (Fin) bt Adil Kalyanpur 3-6, 6-3, 6-0; Arthur Raymond (Fr) beats Ramkumar Ramanathan 7-5, 7-6(3); Dominic Palan (Czech) defeated Dev Zavia 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(5); Niels Visker (Neshia) defeated Manish Sureshkumar 6-3, 6-3.
published – January 04, 2026 09:23 PM IST