Omni Kumar made good use of his opportunity as a lucky loser when he competed in the ATP level 250 tournament, Winston-Salem Open in the 2023 season.
The world number 385 surprisingly defeated world number 73 Arthur Rinderknech 6-3 7-6 in the first round of the Winston-Salem Open.
The 21-year-old arrived at the Winston-Salem Open without even bagging a Challenger victory. He lost in the final qualifying round to Ilya Marchenko but could enter the main draw after Austrian international Dominic Thiem withdrew with gastroenteritis.
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The 21-year-old admits she was quite surprised to claim victory in an ATP tournament before enjoying victory in the Challenger event.
“This feels unreal. I’m not fully able to accept all of this. I played the best game of my life and the crowd cheered me on,” said Omni Kumar, who has a powerful forehand and stunning serve.
“Just as I was about to train today I got a message that I was signed in. I feel sorry that Thiem pulled out but I feel really happy and I feel unencumbered, so I entered the pitch with that mindset.”
“I’ve watched a lot of Arthur on television and footage on Tennis TV. He has an amazing game, so powerful. This time, all things came together well for me.”
Awaiting Kumar in the second round of the Winston-Salem Open is the eighth seed, Botic van de Zandschulp.
In other action, American Michael Mmoh fired 10 aces en route to a 6-2 3-6 6-3 win over Darian King and booked a second round clash with compatriot and 13th seed Marcos Giron.
“This is mental toughness, holding on as hard as you can,” said Mmoh. “I fired up and played well in the first set before having a shaky game in the second when he turned things around.”
“In the first set I thought I served well and in the third I felt I had some challenging moments, lots of close service games. That’s one of the reasons why I won.”
In other action, French tennis player, Luca Van Assche had to fight extra hard to beat the host, Thai Son Kwiatkowski with 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, a victory that brought him to the second round against ninth seed, Aleksandar Vukic .
