Coming off a semifinal appearance last week in Mumbai, promising Karan Singh will lead India’s challenge when the main draw action of the men’s ITF Kalaburagi Open begins at the Chandrashekhar Patil Stadium courts here on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old, having had good runs in the last few weeks, exuded confidence on the eve of the $25,000 tournament. “It’s been good the last couple of weeks and I’m feeling good about my game right now,” said Karan, who also made the quarterfinals a week earlier in Bhubaneswar.

Karan, who takes on wildcard entrant Aditya Balsekar in his opener, lost to eventual champion Dalibor Svrcina of the Czech Republic in Mumbai. In Bhubaneswar, he fell to Russian Bogdan Bobrov, the second seed here, in the quarterfinals.

Armed with a booming serve and a powerful forehand, the fourth-seeded Karan has the wherewithal to be the last one standing. “Everyone is here to do their best, I shall give it my all and hopefully I will be able to go all the way,” said the Indian before heading off to the practice courts.

Aryan Shah, Dev Javia, Karnataka’s own SD Prajwal Dev and Adil Kalyanpur, winners of the doubles title in Mumbai last week, are the other Indians who will be watched with interest.

However, they will have to contend with the top-seeded Khumoyun Sultanov, who will look to make amends after falling at the final hurdle in Mumbai on Sunday. Ranked 229 on the ATP charts, the Uzbek player will be the cynosure.

Russia’s Bobrov and Egor Agafonov, seeded second and third respectively, will look to spoil Sultanov’s script. So too will the others in the draw which wears an open look.

7 INDIANS QUALIFY FOR MAIN DRAW  

Seven Indians came through the qualifying rounds to make the 32-player main draw on Sunday. Leading the charge was Bengaluru-based Dheeraj Kodancha Srinivasan, who breezed past fellow Indian Udit Kamboj 6-1, 6-3.

Dheeraj, who is pursuing his final year Bachelor’s degree at Jain College, was dominant in his win over Kamboj, clinching the opening set without much ado. He did face a little resistance in the second, but the much-improved Dheeraj raised his level a notch to go through to the main draw.

Barring eighth-seeded Muni Ananth Mani, the rest of the seeds sailed through to the tournament proper. Anthony Susanto of Indonesia, who overcame Vietnam’s Ha Minh Duc Vu 7-5, 6-1, was the lone foreign player to qualify for the main draw.

Results (Final qualifying round, Indians unless mentioned): Siddhant Banthia bt Ajay Malik 6-2, 6-0; Pranav Karthik bt Chinmaya Dev Chauhan 6-2, 6-1; Anthony Susanto (Ina) bt Ha Minh Duc Vu (Vie) 7-5, 6-1; Kabir Hans bt Shivank Bhatnagar 6-3, 6-1; Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Yash Chaurasia 6-3, 6-3; Dheeraj Kodancha Srinivasan bt Udit Kamboj 6-1, 6-3; Priyanshu Choudhary bt Muni Ananth Mani 6-2, 6-2; Maan Kesharwani bt Rohan Mehra 7-6, 6-4.

Main draw seedings: 1. Khumoyun Sultanov (Uzb); 2. Bogdan Bobrov (Rus); 3. Egor Agafonov (Rus); 4. Karan Singh (Ind); 5. Aryan Shah (Ind); 6. Nick Chappell (USA); 7. Dev Javia (Ind); 8. Maxim Zhukov (Rus).

CAPTION: PIX-1: India’s Dheeraj Kodancha Srinivasan makes a forehand return during his final qualifying round win over Udit Kamboj in Kalaburagi on Monday.

PIX-2: Ms. Fouzia Taranum, IAS, Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate of Kalaburagi (centre), poses with other officials and players after the draw ceremony of the ITF Kalaburagi Open at the Chandrashekhar Patil Stadium on Monday.

PIX-3: India’s Karan Singh during training on the eve of the main draw of the ITF Kalaburagi Open on Monday.

PIX-4: Ms. Fouzia Taranum, IAS, Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate of Kalaburagi (centre) and other officials pose for shutterbugs after the draw ceremony of the ITF Kalaburagi Open on Monday.