National champion Nikki Poonacha, who was handed a wild card entry into the Bengaluru Open tennis tournament, continued his fine form at the Bengaluru Open 2020 as he advanced into the pre-quarter-finals of the tournament by upsetting 16th seed Lucas Rosol who hails from the Czech Republic.
The 24-year-old Poonacha defeated Rosol 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 in their second-round match on Tuesday which lasted for an hour and 45 minutes of the one lakh 62 thousand 480 dollar hardcourt ATP Challenger tournament.
Poonacha had broken into the scene after he became the national championship last year. The rising Indian tennis star began his Bengaluru Open 2020 campaign with a win over compatriot Adil Kalyanpur. However, many tennis lovers did not expect the 24-year-old national champion to progress further in the tournament as his next opponent, Rosol, has a victory to his name against the mighty Rafael Nadal in a Wimbledon match in 2012.
Rosol who once was ranked 26th in the ATP Rankings has not been able to keep up with the expectations as his performances have dipped over the years and he is out of the top 100 at the moment. Still, he has ranked way ahead of Poonacha and also, he held the 16th seed in the ATP Challenger tournament.
Poonacha will next be seen in action against Rosol’s doubles partner and third-seed Japanese tennis player Yuichi Sugita in the Round of 16.
Poonacha after registering and unexpected win against Rosol in a conversation with the media said,
“I am thrilled to have reached this stage of a Challenger event which was my dream since the last year. And having beaten a seeded player I am even happier.”
In other bouts, last year’s runner-up Saketh Myneni of India also upset sixth seed Russia’s Yevgeny Donskoy 6-3 6-3 in straight sets.
At the same time, qualifier Abhinav Shanmugam defeated Germany’s Daniel Masur 7-5 6-3 in the third match of the day.
