NEW DELHI: India’s Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha and Zimbabwe’s Courtney John Lock kicked off their Delhi Open 2025 doubles campaign with a hard-fought 2-6, 7(7)-6(5), 10-6 victory over Czech duo Marek Gengel and Dalibor Svrcina on Wednesday at the DLTA Complex. The second seeds endured a tough opening set but fought back in a tense tiebreaker before sealing the win in a decisive match tiebreak.

Following the withdrawal of top seeds Blake Ellis and Tristan Schoolkate, Poonacha and Lock are now the highest-ranked pair remaining in the draw. Their replacements, India’s Parth Aggarwal and Sidharth Rawat, fell in their opener to Enzo Couacaud and Kelsey Stevenson.

In the singles event, Mukund Sasikumar’s run came to an end with a 6-4, 6-3 loss to Belgium’s Michael Geerts in the round of 16. Meanwhile, third seed Tristan Schoolkate endured a gruelling, three-hour battle against Valentin Vacherot, eventually winning 7-6, 3-6, 6-4.

Qualifier Andre Ilagan’s impressive run continued as the United States of America player stunned eighth seed Timofey Skatov with a 6-2, 6-3 victory. Furthermore, France’s Kyrian Jacquet blanked Jay Clarke of the United Kingdom in a straightforward 7-5, 6-3 win.