Pune, February 23 Belarus' former top-50 player, Ilya Ivashka, caused a major upset, defeating top seed Federico Agustin Gomez in a thrilling three-set match at the Maha Open ATP Challenger 75 on Monday.
Ivashka, who will turn 32 on Tuesday, displayed nerves of steel to win 6-1, 1-6, 7-6(7) in 2 hours 25 minutes, securing his spot in the second round at the Balewadi Tennis Stadium.
Japan's Yuta Shimizu produced a clinical performance to defeat Italy's Lorenzo Carboni 6-4, 6-4. Britain's Alastair Gray battled past Poland's Daniel Michalski 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in a hard-fought contest, while Croatia's Duje Ajdukovic also advanced comfortably with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Korea's Shin San-hui.
Two Indian hopefuls were eliminated as Japan's Takuya Kumasaka beat S D Prajwal Dev 6-4, 6-2, and Tung-Lin Wu of Chinese Taipei edged past Digvijaypratap Singh 7-5, 6-4 in the final qualifying round.
Japan's Maks Kasnikowski, Masamichi Imamura, Yusuke Takahashi, and Malaysia's Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong were the other qualifiers.
Results:
Main Draw (First round): Singles - Ilya Ivashka bt Federico Agustin Gomez (Arg) 6-1, 1-6, 7-6(7); Yuta Shimizu (Jpn) bt Lorenzo Carboni (Ita) 6-4, 6-4; Alastair Gray (Gbr) bt Daniel Michalski (Pol) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Duje Ajdukovic (Cro) bt Sanhui Shin (Kor) 6-2, 6-4.
Final qualifying round: Takuya Kumasaka (Jpn) bt S D Prajwal Dev (Ind) 6-4, 6-2;
Tung-Lin Wu (Tpe) bt Digvijaypratap Singh (Ind) 7-5, 6-4; Maks Kasnikowski (Pol) bt Egor Agafonov 6-4, 6-4; Masamichi Imamura (Jpn) bt David Jorda Sanchis (Esp) 6-4, 6-3; Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong (Mas) bt Tsung-Hao Huang (Tpe) 6-2, 6-3; Yusuke Takahashi (Jpn) bt Alexander Binda (Ita) 6-4, 6-3.
