The SM Krishna Memorial Open begins a new phase on Monday (May 18) in Bengaluru. The event joins the ATP Challenger Tour calendar for the first time. It moves up from an ITF M25 to a Challenger 50. The prize purse stands at USD 63,000, bringing a stronger field to the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium.
The main singles draw has 32 players, with 23 direct entries overall. It also includes three wildcards and six qualifiers. Eight Indians already hold main-draw places. Up to three more Indians can still qualify. The final qualifying round ends on Monday morning.
The upgrade gives Indian players a clearer route to higher ATP points in India. Organisers expect tougher early rounds due to improved entry lists. The draw includes recent form players and several
seeded names. Photo captions from Sunday noted Aradhya Kshitij facing Moerani Bouzige. Another caption showed Kriish Tyagi arriving for practice.
Teen wildcard Kriish Tyagi arrives after a standout week at the Karnataka Open Challenger. Ranked outside the top 1000, the Bengaluru player reached a first Challenger semifinal. Kriish Tyagi beat second seed Hamish Stewart during that run. Kriish Tyagi then lost to eventual finalist Philip Sekulic. Kriish Tyagi opens against Kuan-Yi Lee.
Manish Sureshkumar also carries confidence from last week's tournament. Manish Sureshkumar reached a first Challenger quarterfinal there. The next task looks far harder on paper. Manish Sureshkumar meets top seed Keegan Smith of the USA. Keegan Smith arrives as Saturday's Karnataka Open champion.
SM Krishna Memorial Open led by Keegan Smith and other top seeds
Keegan Smith is World No. 289 and comes in with clear momentum. Keegan Smith beat Philip Sekulic 6-2, 7-5 in the Karnataka Open final. Keegan Smith also beat Ilya Ivashka in the semifinals. That run makes Keegan Smith the leading contender this week. The top seed's form shapes the opening rounds.
Philip Sekulic is seeded fifth and keeps strong rhythm after last week's final. The Australian looked in control during the semifinal win over Kriish Tyagi. Philip Sekulic begins this week against a qualifier. Second seed Alastair Gray of Great Britain adds interest. Alastair Gray retired during last week's qualifying run, but returns as World No. 293.
SM Krishna Memorial Open: Indian match-ups across the main draw
Seventh seed Karan Singh, ranked World No. 413, plays Mitsuki Wei Leong of Malaysia. Former Davis Cup player Mukund Sasikumar meets eighth seed Maximus Jones of Thailand. Sidharth Rawat faces Omar Jasika of Australia. Digvijaypratap Singh plays Japan's Leo Vithoontien. SD Prajwal Dev faces former ATP Tour regular Ilya Ivashka.
Wildcard Vishal Balsekar has a difficult first round against third seed Hamish Stewart. Stewart is ranked World No. 328. Fourth seed Petr Bar Biryukov is World No. 337 in the draw. Sixth seed Ognjen Milic is listed at World No. 395. Alastair Gray starts against a qualifier, like Philip Sekulic.
SM Krishna Memorial Open qualifying results from Sunday
The first qualifying round produced several tight matches and Indian wins. Wildcard Aradhya Kshitij upset the top qualifying seed Moerani Bouzige. Nitin Kumar Sinha and Dev Javia also advanced. Qualifying continues into Monday morning to fill the final main-draw spots.
| Match | Score |
|---|---|
| 10-Naoya Honda (JPN) bt Volodymyr Iakubenko (UKR) | 7-5 (5), 7-5 |
| 4-Amit Vales (ISR) bt Maan Kesharwani (IND) | 6-2, 6-4 |
| Christopher Papa (USA) bt 7-Daisuke Sumizawa (JPN) | 6-1, 6-2 |
| WC-Aradhya Kshitij (IND) bt 1-Moerani Bouzige (AUS) | 6-3, 7-5 |
| 8-Nitin Kumar Sinha (IND) bt Tomohiro Masabayashi (JPN) | 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (5) |
| 3-Joshua Charlton (AUS) bt WC-Mahesh Kumar Vishal Vasudev (IND) | 6-4, 6-4 |
| 9-Dev Javia (IND) bt Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam (IND) | 6-7 (3), 7-6 (6), 6-0 |
| 5-Taiyo Yamanaka (JPN) bt WC-Adil Kalyanpur (IND) | 6-3, 6-3 |
| Ryotaro Taguchi (JPN) bt 2-Yuta Kawahashi (JPN) | 6-7 (1), 6-2, 6-3 |
| 12-Ronit Karki (USA) bt Aryan Lakshmanan (IND) | 7-6 (4), 6-2 |
| 11-Grigoriy Lomakin (KAZ) bt Arjun Mehrotra (AUS) | 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-1 |
| 6-Thanapet Chanta (THA) bt WC-Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar (IND) | 6-0, 1-6, 6-1 |
With eight Indians confirmed in the main draw, the home presence remains strong. The upgraded Challenger 50 status also brings deeper competition and higher stakes. Keegan Smith leads the field after a title win, while Philip Sekulic and Alastair Gray add depth at the top. Monday's final qualifiers complete the line-up for the week.
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