New Delhi: India’s top player Sumit Nagal reached the second round of men’s singles at the Delhi Open 2026 on Tuesday. However, the day also caused a big surprise when the top seeded Dane Sweeny from Australia was eliminated in his opening game against Kazakhstan’s Beibit Zhukayev. The ATP Challenger 75 event, now in its sixth year, will take place from February 16 to 22 at the DLTA Complex. 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams are fighting for the title.
Nagal, ranked 297th in the world, defeated Spain’s David Jorda Sanchis in the opening game of the first set and maintained his lead 6-3. The second set proved to be more competitive as both players held serve until the Indian secured the decisive break in the 11th game and tied the game 6-3, 7-5 in an hour and 27 minutes.
“I am really happy with the win. It is my first win in Delhi. It has been a long time since my tennis matches in Delhi,” Nagal said. “It feels great to be playing at home. It was an incredible crowd and I’m looking forward to playing on Thursday.”
Nagal’s win was the only positive result in singles for the Indian team. 18-year-old Manas Dhamne, qualifier Manish Sureshkumar and wildcard entry Digvijay Singh all bowed out in their opening matches with narrow defeats in straight sets.
Kazakhstan’s Zhukayev, ranked No. 292 in the world, caused the biggest surprise of the tournament when the 25-year-old came from one set down to beat top seed Dane Sweeny, ranked No. 134 in the world, 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-2. The Australian had entered the tournament after a strong start to the 2026 season, qualifying for and reaching the second round of the Australian Open and winning an ATP Challenger 75 title in Brisbane.
Second seed Rei Sakamoto reached the round of 16 after defeating Chennai Open champion Frederico Ferreira Silva 6-2, 6-2 in the first round.
Number three seeded Briton Jay Clarke also advanced with a hard-fought 7-6, 6-4 win over Polish qualifier Maks Kasnikowski to secure his first win of the season.
“Really positive. It’s the first game I’ve won this year,” Clarke said after his win. “I played great, especially at the end of this year, and the results weren’t quite confirmed at the start of the year. But I’m really happy. Max is a good player. I’ve played against him before. I lost to him, I think, a few years ago. Hopefully I can keep going.”
The 22-year-old Pole reached the semi-finals of the Chennai Open last week and had won two qualifying matches to get into the main draw this week. Despite Clarke’s lead in the seeding list, the Briton was well prepared for a difficult competition.
There are very subtle gaps between my ranking and Max, who was around 160 in the world rankings last year or something like that. So now the margins are very small, especially now that Max is showing qualities. Maybe he was a little tired today, but I don’t really pay attention to the setting. Of course it’s nice to be seeded because it means you’ve had a good year before this tournament, but you have to be ready and there are no easy games
now,” he added.
Nagal is aiming to become the first Indian singles champion at the Delhi Open since Somdev Devvarman, who remains the only home singles champion in the tournament’s history. Devvarman won two consecutive titles in 2014 and 2015. India has also produced two All-Indian doubles champions in the past, with Saketh Myneni/Sanam Singh and Yuki Bhambri/Mahesh Bhupathi lifting the trophy in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
As part of the ATP Challenger 75 series, the tournament awards 75 ranking points to the champions in singles and doubles, 44 points to the runner-up in singles and 50 points to the runner-up in doubles. The individual winner receives prize money of $17,000 and the runner-up receives $9,600. The double winner receives $4,980 and the runner-up receives $2,880.
ATP Delhi Open 2026 – Day 3 Results (until 6:00 PM IST)
Main Draw Men’s Singles – First Round
Beibit Zhukayev (KAZ) d. (1) Dane Sweeny (AUS) 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-2
(2) King Sakamoto (JPN) d. Frederico Ferreira Silva (POR) 6-2, 6-2
(3) Jay Clarke (GBR) died (Q) Maks Kasnikowski (POL) 7-6, 6-4
(8) Rio Noguchi (JPN) d. (WC) Manas Dhamne (IND) 7-5, 6-4
Sumit Nagal (IND) d. (Alt) David Jorda Sanchis (ESP) 6-3, 7-5
Alastair Gray (GBR) d. (Q) Hyeon Chung (KOR) 6-0, 7-6 (6)
Petr Bar Biryukov d. (WC) Digvijaypratap Singh (IND) 6-3, 6-4
Dimitar Kuzmanov (BUL) died (PR) Philip Sekulic (AUS) 6-4, 7-5
(PR) Ilya Ivashka d. (Alt) Sanhui Shin (KOR) 6-3, 6-3
(Q) Alexandr Binda (ITA) d. (Q) Denis Yevseyev (KAZ) 6-7 (7), 6-1, 6-2
Stefanos Sakellaridis (GRE) d. (F) Manish Sureshkumar (IND) 6-4, 7-5
