Suraj to meet Arthur in AirAsia opener

Lakshit Sood

Bangalore, Oct 18: Top seed Adrian Mendez-Maceiras of Spain will take on qualifier Petros Chrysochos of Cyprus in the first round on the opening day on Center Court in the AirAsia Open, $50,000 event at the KSLTA Courts on Monday.

However, Indian Wild Card entrant Suraj Prabodh will step on Center Court in the first match of the day when he clashes with Arthur de Greef of Belgium.

Tournament 5th seed Yannick Mertens (Bel) clashes with N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (Ind), 6th seed Ti Chen (Tpe) takes on qualifier Temur Ismailov of Uzbekistan and former National champion Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash, handed a Wild Card to the main draw, has drawn qualifier and country-mate Prajnesh Gunneswaran.

Indian star and Davis Cupper Somdev DevVarman will be seen in action in the second half of the day when he teams up with Christopher Marquis (Ind) and takes on another Wild Card pair, the Sood Brothers, Chandril and Lakshit in the pre-quarters of the doubles competition.

Top seeds Maximilian Neuchrist (Aut) and Divij Sharan (Ind) will clash with Petros Chrysochos (Cyp) and Temur Ismailov (Uzb).

THREE INDIANS MAKE MAIN DRAW

On Sunday, three more Indians made it to the main draw, taking the tally of Indians in the main draw to 11, two winning their respective matches and Lakshit Sood as a lucky loser, in the final round of the qualifiers.

Sidharth Rawat (Ind), ranked 663 on the ATP list downed another Indian Jayesh Pungliya 6-4, 6-0 and Prajnesh Gunneswaran (845) bested Lakshit Sood by an identical margin.

However, with Indian Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan pulling out of the main drawn citing fever, Lakshit Sood squeezed into the main draw as a lucky loser.

Two others to make the main draw from the qualifying rounds was Temur Ismailov (Uzb), a convincing 6-3, 7-6 (6) victor over Indian Christopher Marquis and Petros Chrysochos (Cyp) who carved out a 7-6 (5), 6-3 verdict over Chandril Sood.

Results:

Qualifying final round: Sidarth Rawat (Ind) bt Jayesh Pungliya (Ind) 6-4, 6-0; Temur Ismailov (Uzb) bt

Christopher Marquis (Ind) 6-3, 7-6 (6); Prajnesh Gunneswaran (Ind) bt Lakshit Sood 6-4, 6-0 and Petros

Chrysochos (Cyp) bt Chandril Sood (Ind) 7-6 (5), 6-3.