A meltdown notwithstanding, Ilya Ivashka managed to come out on top in his semifinal outing against Hamish Stewart at the S.M. Krishna Memorial Open ATP Challenger tennis here on Friday (May 22, 2026).

Trailing 3-4 in the second set, Ivashka was furious when the chair umpire overruled a line call in favour of Stewart. 

Ivashka, who had hit the last shot of the rally into the net, was convinced that the deuce point must be replayed. The umpire, however, awarded the point to Stewart, citing that the original ‘out’ call from the linesperson did not affect Ivashka’s shot. 

“No! No! No chance!,” Ivashka screamed at the top of his lungs.

Ivashka sat in his chair and demanded to see the supervisor, who agreed with the umpire’s decision. 

Ivashka reluctantly went back to the court, going on to lose the second set 3-6. The Belarus player exchanged verbal volleys with the supervisor — seated in the stands — on his way out of the court. 

The short break before the third set allowed Ivashka to regroup. The 32-year-old stayed focussed on the job, completing a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 win over third-seed Stewart. 

Ivashka will face fourth-seed Petr Bar Biryukov in the singles final on Friday. 

In the doubles semifinals, the Indian pair of Adil Kalyanpur and Mukund Sasikumar took out Charles Barry (Ireland) and Joshua Charlton (Australia) 6-4, 6-3. 

Niki Poonacha and Saketh Myneni, who won the Karnataka Open last week, fell to Biryukov and Grigoriy Lomakin.

The results (Semifinals): Ilya Ivashka bt Hamish Stewart (GBR) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2; Petr Bar Biryukov bt Alastair Gray (GBR) 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5).

Doubles: Adil Kalyanpur & Mukund Sasikumar bt Charles Barry (Irl) & Joshua Charlton (Aus) 6-4, 6-3; Petr Bar Biryukov & Grigoriy Lomakin (Kaz) bt Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha & Saketh Myneni 6-3, 6-4.

A clinical Keegan Smith outclassed Philip Sekulic 6-2, 7-5 in the final to emerge as the Karnataka Open ATP Challenger singles champion at the S.M. Krishna Tennis Stadium here on Saturday (May 16, 2026). 

The Indian duo of Niki Poonacha and Saketh Myneni took top honours in doubles, defeating Petr Bar Biryukov-Grigoriy Lomakin 6-2, 6-3 in the summit clash.

The unseeded Poonacha-Myneni notched up a first tournament win together. The occasion was particularly sweet for Poonacha, who claimed a maiden Challenger title in his home city. 

“We decided to play together just last week,” 38-year-old Myneni said. 

Myneni stated that the pairing worked well because Poonacha’s aggressive game complements his measured style. 

Poonacha and Myneni took home $2,980 and 50 ATP points. 

In the singles, Smith’s all-round game won the day. The 6’7” American showed fantastic court coverage to frustrate Sekulic (world no. 357). When top-seed Smith came to the net, his soft touch — evidenced by a delicious backhand half-volley in the first set — drew applause from the crowd. 

Sekulic’s electric forehand, which worked so well in his semifinal win over Kriish Tyagi, could not find the mark on Saturday. Smith (world no. 289) did not make it easy either, keeping his returns deep and flat. 

Smith claimed $9,500 and 50 ATP ranking points, while Sekulic collected $5,500 and 25 ATP points.

The results (final): Keegan Smith (USA) bt Philip Sekulic (Aus) 6-2, 7-5. 

Doubles: Niki Poonacha & Saketh Myneni bt Petr Bar Biryukov & Grigoriy Lomakin (Kaz) 6-2, 6-3. 

The rigours of professional tennis must feel like a cakewalk for Keegan Smith, given that he has overcome far greater challenges in life. 

As a college senior some years ago, Smith suffered a horrific skateboarding accident. A temporal bone fracture, haematoma and other major injuries left Smith fearing the worst. 

“There was a moment in the hospital where I seriously felt like I was going to die,” Smith said here on Thursday. 

From lying in the hospital bed with little hope, the American made a miraculous recovery. “The haematoma in my head was blocking blood flow. It got really scary, because they gave me a blood thinner, and then the other side of my head started bleeding. But then one day I woke up and the doctors said that blood started going back into my arteries,” Smith, the top seed in the Karnataka Open ATP Challenger, said. 

“They told me they had never seen a recovery like that. Most people with brain injuries can’t talk, can’t walk. This higher power — whatever you want to call it — is protecting us,” Smith added. 

Smith’s new lease on life began in dramatically positive fashion. Just a couple of months after recovering from the accident, he won an ITF M15 tournament. “That was really crazy. It’s a really cool story. I couldn’t think of life without tennis, so I just got right back into it,” Smith said. 

The 27-year-old has since made rapid strides, having climbed to a career-best world ranking of 289. “I’m really, really proud of myself. I’ve been in a deep hole, and yet now I’m playing the best tennis of my life,” Smith said. 

A deeply spiritual man and yoga practitioner, Smith was thrilled to partake in meditation sessions at the Ramakrishna Math here. 

Smith swears by the art of yoga. “It’s great because you link the breath to the body. This allows my body to relax and reset. A lot of times, we live in our mind and in our head, reacting and stressing over things and thoughts that aren’t even happening,” he said. 

“With yoga, I find myself being much softer to people, and much kinder and loving to myself. It helps release a lot of the stress that I go through in tennis. No materialistic success, or even success in tennis, will ever bring me the peace that meditation and yoga brings,” Smith said.

The Karnataka Open ATP Challenger tennis tournament, which commences at the S.M. Krishna Tennis Stadium here on Monday, offers a chance for Indian players to earn valuable ranking points.

The likes of sixth-seed Karan Singh, Sidharth Rawat, Prajwal Dev and Sasikumar Mukund will look to use this week-long home tournament — the first of back-of-back Challenger events that will be held at this venue — to make stirring runs and rise up the ATP ladder. 

Maan Kesharwani, Dev Javia and Krish Tyagi have been handed main draw wild cards. 

Formerly known as the ATP Bengaluru Challenger, this tournament carries a prize purse of $63,000.

American Keegan Smith, now at a career best ranking of 289, has been given top billing. Scotland’s Hamish Stewart (world no. 328) and Russian Petr Bar (world no. 337) are two other top contenders. 

In doubles, the Niki Poonacha and Saketh Myneni combo stands out as one of the most experienced teams in the draw.

Portugal’s Frederico Ferreira Silva showcased his returning skills to put it across Argentine Federico Agustin Gomez 6-4, 6-7(10), 6-4 in the final to win the singles title at the Chennai Open ATP Challenger at the SDAT Tennis Stadium here on Sunday.

The opening set saw the 30-year-old Portuguese land 73% of first serves to keep the second seed Gomez off-balance. After the players exchanged breaks early, the left-handed Ferreira Silva secured the all-important break in the ninth game and then held serve to clinch the set 6-4.

The second set followed a similar pattern, with both players trading breaks early. There were no further breaks of serve. Gomez’s big serving carried him through as he saved four match-points on the way. Eight aces stood the Argentine in good stead as he won a close tie-breaker to level the final.

Ferreira Silva, ranked 255 in the world against Gomez’s 196, raised his game in the decider and raced to a 5-2 lead and was poised to put the contest to bed. The second seed, unperturbed, mounted another comeback, saving a fifth match-point and closing the gap to 4-5.

The sixth-seeded Portuguese, however, was not to be denied as he held his nerve and serve to land his maiden Challenger title.

The result: singles (final): Frederico Ferreira Silva (Por) bt Federico Agustin Gomez (Arg) 6-4, 6-7(10), 6-4.