Published: January 21, 2026 at 8:33 pm
Indian-origin American Keshav Chopra pulled off the biggest upset in the first round of the M15 Hyderabad, ITF World Tennis Tour, in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Keshav, who came through the qualifiers, showed that he belonged to the main draw by putting out second seed E Vanshelboim of Ukraine 6-2, 6-4.
Keshav brooked no challenge as he cruised to a comfortable victory over the seeded player. He will now face another qualifier India’s Rohan Mehra, who overcame fellow Indian Hitesh Chauhan in a tense three-set thriller. Mehra won the first set 7-6(1) but lost the second 4-6. He, however, pulled up his socks and took the decider 6-3 to make the grade.
No.5 seed Felix Balshaw of France too bit the dust in the first-round action. Balshaw was shown the door by Switzerland’s J von der Schulenburg 6-2, 7-6(6). Schulenburg began with a bang as he romped to an easy 6-2 win in the first set, but Balshaw picked up the threads and fought well in the second set.
However, Schulenburg prevailed 7-6(6) to book his second-round berth against Thailand’s James van Herzeele. The qualifier had put it across wild card entrant S Allam of Great Britain with each 6-1, 6-0.
Fifth seed Felix Balshaw was shown the door by Switzerland’s J von der Schulenburg 6-2, 7-6(6). Pics by Kamesh Srinivasan
Veteran Vishnu Vardhan, who came through the qualifiers, fell to seventh seed Sidharth Rawat 7-6(4), 6-4. The local lad fought well in the first set and gave Sidharth a run for his money. But Vishnu just couldn’t manage to win the tie-break and lost the set 6-7(4). Sidharth then managed to win the next one 6-4 to sail one.
The other seeded players had no trouble in negotiating their respective rivals. Top seed Max Houkes of The Netherlands had an easy outing against India’s Dev Javia in his 6-4, 6-1 victory. He will take on Indonesia’s M Rifqi Fitriadi, who defeated Israel’s Amit Vales 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3.
Third seed Karan Singh of India was stretched by fellow Indian and wild card entrant Udit Kamboj. Karan won the first set at 6-3 but had a grim battle in the second as Udit stepped up his game. Udit won it 7-6(5) but ran out of steam in the decider, which Karan won 6-4.
Karan will meet another wild card entrant Ishaqe Eqbal of India, who defeated Kazakhstan’s Grigoriy Lomakin 6-4, 7-6 (4).
Sixth seed Aziz Ouakaa of Tunisia defeated Kabir Hans after the Indian retired hurt in the third and final set. Aziz won 2-6, 6-3, 3-0.
Results (Round I): 1-Max Houkes beat Dev Javia 6-4, 6-1; M Rifqi beat Amit Vales 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3; Thanapet Chanta beat Ivan Iutkin 7-6(5), 6-2; 8-P Sornlaksup bt S Mummadi 6-0, 6-1; 4-Dominik Palan beat Duckhee Lee 6-1, 6-2; Timofei Derepasko beat M Leong 2-6, 6-4, 6-4; Manish Suresh Kumar beat Madhwin Kamath 6-3, 6-3; 7-Sidharth Rawat beat Vishnu Vardhan 7-6(4), 6-4; J von der Schulenburg beat 5-Felix Balshaw 6-2, 7-6(6); James van Herzeele beat S Allam 6-1, 6-0; Ishaque Eqbal beat Grigoriy Lomaking 6-4, 7-6(4); 3-Karan Singh beat Udit Kamboj 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4; 6-Aziz Ouakaa beat Kabir Hans 2-6, 6-3, 3-0 (retd); Seonyong Han beat L Bathrinath 6-4 6-3; Rohan Mehra beat Hitesh Chauhan 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-3; Keshav Chopra beat 2-E Vanshelboim 6-2, 6-4.
