New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS): India’s Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha and Zimbabwe’s Courtney John Lock have entered the 2025 Delhi Open doubles main draw as the No. 2 seeds, aiming to add to their Challenger title count. The ATP Challenger 75 event, returning for its fifth edition at the DLTA Complex from February 10-16, will feature 16 teams competing for the trophy and 75 ATP points.

India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan and Karan Singh, fresh off a Davis Cup win over Togo, have received a wild card entry to the doubles tournament. Ramkumar, a 2025 Chennai Open finalist, will look to build on his form alongside Singh. Another all-Indian duo, SD Prajwal Dev and Sai Karteek Reddy Ganta, also enter as wild cards, joining Siddhant Banthia and Parikshit Somani in the draw.

Poonacha, a two-time Challenger doubles champion, and Lock, who owns one Challenger and 19 ITF titles with his brother Benjamin, will be among the favourites. They are part of a field led by top-seeded Australians, former Australian Open boys’ doubles winner Blake Ellis and Tristan Schoolkate.

The 2019 Wimbledon boys’ singles champion Shintaro Mochizuki reunites with Kaito Uesugi after their Chennai Open title win. Their first-round clash against Ramkumar and Singh promises to be a thrilling encounter, with the winner potentially facing Poonacha and Lock in the quarter-finals. Jay Clarke (UK) and Johannes Ingildsen (DEN) are the third seeds, while Corentin Denolly & Sascha Gueymard Wayenburg (FRA) round out the top four.

Meanwhile, the singles qualifying rounds on Monday saw several upsets. Top seed Enzo Couacaud suffered a surprise exit, losing to 12th-seeded Andre Ilagan, while unseeded Hynek Barton stunned second seed Gueymard Wayenburg; the Frenchman, however, received passage to the main draw as the Lucky Loser after fourth seed Lloyd Harris’ withdrawal. Meanwhile, Jacopo Berrettini also failed to progress, falling to unseeded Eric Vanshelboim.