S.M. Krishna Memorial Open: rain mars opening day’s action

Persistent rain played spoilsport on the opening day of the main draw of the S.M. Krishna Memorial Open ATP Challenger, forcing all five singles and one doubles match to be suspended at the S.M. Krishna Tennis Stadium here on Monday.

Seventh seed Karan Singh was locked 5-5 (30-0) against Malaysia’s Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong when showers interrupted the proceedings.

Aradhya Kshitij, 17, entered the main draw with a 7-6(2), 6-4 win over Nitin Kumar Sinha in the final qualifying round.

Earlier, the inaugural ceremony of the tournament paid tribute to the late S.M. Krishna, former Chief Minister of Karnataka and ex-KSLTA president.

MLC K. Govindaraj, Karnataka Olympic Association president and FIBA (Asia) president, members of Krishna’s family — daughters Malavika Hegde, Shambhavi Umesh, and grandson Ishaan Hegde — and AITA honorary joint secretary Sunil Yajaman were some of the dignitaries present on the occasion.