N Vijay Sundar Prashant, Sidharth Rawat enter main draw of Bengaluru Open

N Vijay Sundar Prashant and Sidharth Rawat claimed two out of four qualifying spots to enter the main round of the USD 100,000 Bengaluru Open, in Bangalore on Sunday.

India’s N Vijay Sundar Prashant and Sidharth Rawat claimed two out of four qualifying spots to enter the main round of the USD 100,000 Bengaluru Open, in Bangalore on Sunday.

While Vijay defeated Russian Shalva Dzhanashia of 6-3 6-2, Sidharth overcame Timur Khabibulin of Kazakhistan 6-2, 7-6 (5) in their respective matches in the final round of the qualifiers.

Frenchman Borna Gojo and Crotian Matej Sabanov were the other two qualifiers.

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Meanwhile, Saketh Myneni, who has shown a tremendous return to form after a long injury layoff and lost in the semifinals last week, was pleased with his performance and will go into the tournament with an open mind.

“It is good to be back and I need to keep working hard and play more tournaments to go back to the ranking where I was,” said the 30-year-old, who has dipped from 153 to 907.

Top seed Blaz Kavcic, meanwhile, admitted that he will be under pressure because of the top billing.

“People expect you to win if you are seeded at the top,” said the 30-year-old, who was once ranked 68 about four years ago.

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But two surgeries couple of years ago cut his journey short and he had plummeted to 450 in the world rankings.

However, with grit and determination, he has jumped back to 102 in a span of 18 months.

“I haven’t come here to win or make money. I have come here to just make some points which will give me an entry into the Australian Open in January,” said the smiling Kavcic, who intends to visit some temples with his girlfriend Karin during his stay here.

“I still have to acclimatise and luckily I have my match on Tuesday, which will give me more time to practice,” added Kavcic.