Bengaluru Open Tennis: Ramkumar and Myneni Kick Off Title Defense with Straight Sets Victory

Bengaluru, Feb 26 (NationPress) The reigning champions in doubles, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Saketh Myneni, kicked off their title defense in the 2025 Bengaluru Open with a decisive straight-sets victory against the Italian duo of Jacopo Berrettini and Enrico Dalla Valle at the KSLTA Courts on Wednesday.

The accomplished pair, who have each secured three titles in this tournament—two together—defeated their opponents with a score of 6-3, 7-6(4) in just one hour and 14 minutes, advancing to the quarterfinals.

Hosted by the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA), the Bengaluru Open is an ATP Challenger 125 event boasting a prize purse of USD 200,000. It is currently recognized as India’s premier ATP Tour competition, with the champion earning 125 ATP ranking points.

With the goal of furthering their success at the Bengaluru Open, Ramkumar and Myneni surged to a 4-1 lead after breaking their opponents' serve in the fourth game. They clinched the first set in less than 30 minutes but encountered tougher competition in the second. Berrettini and Dalla Valle managed to break the Indian favorites in the sixth game, but the duo quickly retaliated, ultimately winning the tiebreaker to secure the match at 6-3, 7-6(4).

Next, Ramkumar and Myneni will face Hynek Barton and Eric Vanshelboim, who triumphed over Johannes Ingildsen and Ivan Liutarevich with a score of 6-3, 1-6, 13-11 in the pre-quarters.

In additional doubles results, top seeds Anirudh Chandrasekar and Ray Ho won against Sai Karteek Reddy Ganta and Khumoyun Sultanov with a score of 6-4, 6-4 to move into the last eight. The Indian-Taiwanese team demonstrated outstanding synergy, achieving critical breaks in the ninth games of both sets to finish the match in one hour and 13 minutes.

Wild card entrants Adil Kalyanpur and Karan Singh staged a comeback after losing the first set to defeat compatriots Nitin Kumar Sinha and Manish Sureshkumar in a thrilling three-set match. After conceding the first set 6-1, Adil and Karan responded with a 6-2 win in the second, forcing a tiebreaker. Tied at 4-4, they gained the advantage and closed out the match with a score of 10-4. Adil and Karan will now take on the second seeds Blake Bayldon and Matthew Christopher Romios from Australia.

In singles Round-of-16 matches, Billy Harris continued his impressive run, moving into the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Marek Gengel from Czechia.

Moreover, James McCabe from Australia defeated Rio Noguchi of Japan in a closely contested match, 7-6, 5-7, 7-6(5). He will now face Nicolas Mejia in the quarterfinals after the Colombian's straight-sets win over Blake Ellis.

Selected results:

Singles (Round of 16):

Nicolas Mejia (COL) d. Blake Ellis (AUS) 6-1, 7-5; [LL] Billy Harris (GBR) d. Marek Gengel (CZE) 6-4, 6-3; James McCabe (AUS) d. Rio Noguchi (JPN) 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(5); [2] Tristan Schoolkate d. Jurij Rodionov (AUT) (AUS) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2;

Doubles (Round of 16):

[2] B. Bayldon (AUS)/M Romios (AUS) d. K Isomura (JPN)/K Van Wyk (RSA) 4-6, 6-3, 10-4; [WC] A. Kalyanpur (IND)/K Singh (IND) d. [Alt] N Sinha (IND)/M Sureshkumar (IND) 1-6, 6-2, 10-4; S. Myneni (IND)/R. Ramanathan (IND) d. J. Berrettini (ITA)/E. Dalla Valle (ITA) 6-3, 7-6(4); [1] A. Chandrasekar (IND)/R. Ho (TPE) d. S. Karteek Reddy Ganta (IND)/K. Sultanov (UZB) 6-4, 6-4; [Alt] H. Barton (CZE)/E. Vanshelboim (UKR) d. [3] J. Ingildsen (DEN)/Ilya Liutarevich 6-3, 1-6, 13-11; N. Mejia (COL)/B. Tomic (AUS) d. J. Clarke (GBR)/B. Ellis (AUS) 4-6, 6-3, 10-5