Manish Sureshkumar’s last win in an ATP Challenger tournament match came in November 2019. A relieved Manish managed to break the long drought in the first round of the Karnataka Open ATP Challenger here on Tuesday with a 6-4, 7-6(7) win over American qualifier Ronit Karki.

Manish (World No. 829) stayed consistent with his groundstrokes to outclass Karki, the 2025 Wimbledon junior finalist.

“Normally I like to play long rallies, but here that it not possible because the ball travels faster and longer. Having good ball control really helps in these conditions,” the 26-year-old Manish said.

In another round-of-32 clash, Japan’s Kokoro Isomura defeated an inconsistent Karan Singh 7-6(6), 6-3. Karan made far too away unforced errors, and was tentative with his volleys. Playing in the familiar setting of his home stadium, 19-year-old Kriish Tyagi took out Japanese qualifier Taiyo Yamanaka 6-2, 7-5.

The results (round-of-32): Philip Sekulic (Aus) bt Digvijaypratap Singh 7-6(5), 7-6(5); Mukund Sasikumar bt Mitsuki Wei (Mas) 6-3, 7-6(1); Kokoro Isomura (Jpn) bt Karan Singh 7-6(6), 6-3; Manish Sureshkumar bt Ronit Karki (USA) 6-4, 7-6(7); Alastair Gray (GBr) bt Petr Bar Biryukov 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(3); Joshua Charlton (Aus) bt Prajwal Dev 6-1, 6-4; Kriish Tyagi bt Taiyo Yamanaka (Jpn) 6-2, 7-5; Ilya Ivashka bt Kuan-Yi Lee (Tpe) 6-2, 6-0; Keegan Smith (USA) bt Ryotaro Taguchi (Jpn) 6-1, 6-4; Amit Vales (Isr) bt Aditya Vishal Balsekar 6-2, 6-2.