Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong: Only securing his entry at the last-minute, 26-year-old M Sureshkumar lit up day 1 of the ATP Delhi Open 2026 with a come-from-behind win over fifth seed Lorenzo Carboni of Italy in the Men’s Singles first qualifying round at the DLTA Complex. Conceding the opener, Sureshkumar rallied to sweep the 19-year-old Carboni in an hour and 53 minutes, winning 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Later in the day, Indian campaigner Ramkumar Ramanathan, starting as a wild card in qualifying, beat Tsung-Hao Huang of Chinese Taipei in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3.
As part of the ATP Challenger 75 series, Delhi Open will award 75 ranking points to the singles and doubles champions, 50 points to the doubles runners-up and 44 points to the singles runner-up.
The singles champion will receive $17,000 in prize money, with the runner-up earning $9,600. The doubles champions will split $4,980, while the runners-up will split $2,880.
“I wasn’t sure if I’d be coming to Delhi because I got my entry at the very last minute. To be honest, I wasn’t fully prepared since it was still doubtful whether I’d play or not. I didn’t have any expectations going into today because I knew he was a good player and a youngster. I just went into the match looking to play some good tennis,” Sureshkumar said following his victory.
It was a gritty fightback from Sureshkumar, who turned the match on its head after a slow start and took complete control in the second and third sets. Finding rhythm behind his serve, he repeatedly pinned Carboni deep and dictated play with a relentless service game that left his opponent scrambling. Once he gained the upper hand, there was little let-up, as Sureshkumar kept the pressure on and steadily pushed Carboni into a corner to seal the turnaround in style.
“I didn’t want to put any pressure on myself. I focused on sticking to that throughout the match, and I’m glad I was able to get the win. I was more focused on my own game rather than on his. I had a clear set of things I wanted to execute. Once the match started, I began to understand his strengths. His backhand was pretty solid, and he was making a few errors on the forehand side. I picked that up in the first couple of games, kept working with that pattern, and it worked out well,” the Chennai native added.
It was a gritty fightback from Sureshkumar, who turned the match on its head after a slow start and took complete control in the second and third sets. Finding rhythm behind his serve, he repeatedly pinned Carboni deep and dictated play with a relentless service game that left his opponent scrambling. Once he gained the upper hand, there was little let-up, as Sureshkumar kept the pressure on and steadily pushed Carboni into a corner to seal the turnaround in style.
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Third seed Hyeon Chung looked sharp in a 6-2, 6-1 win over alternate Nitin Kumar Sinha, but there was no shortage of drama elsewhere. Alexander Donski knocked out 12th seed S D Prajwal Dev 6-3, 7-5, and alternate Uisung Park stunned ninth seed Mukund Sasikumar 6-4, 6-2 to shake up the draw. The winners now move into the second and final qualifying round on Monday, where six spots in the main draw will be up for grabs.