After his shock defeat to Russia's Evgeny Donskoy in the second round here, Delhi boy Yuki Bhambri has now set his sights on a 'tougher' USD 100,000 ATP Challenger in Delhi next week in his bid to break into the top 100 of ATP singles rankings.
Having broken into top 150 after getting the winner's 80 ranking points in ATP Challenger Tour Chennai, the 21-year-old is looking ahead to his home event at the R K Khanna Stadium Complex from Ferbuary 17.
"Yes, it would be awesome to get into the top 100... It's definitely possible. I would really have to be more consistent with my game," the 145th ranked said before leaving for Delhi tonight.
The field would be tough at ATP Challenger in Delhi and Yuki was hoping for a better draw.
"Probably a few more better-ranked players will be there. But in the end, you have to win against five guys to win a tournament. You don't have to beat everybody," he said.
"You got to be ready, if you want to take the next step, you got to beat the top 100-120 guys. Eventually if I have to reach there, this is how I will have to do it," Yuki said.
"Hopefully the good ones will be in the other side of the draw and I don't have to play all of them. Yes, it's difficult as one would expect to be in the USD 100,000 tournament. A lot of points will be at stake," he added.
Refusing to read too much into his today's tame loss to Russian third seed Donskoy, who is 127th in the world rankings, Yuki said: "It was the case of playing a better opponent. I always knew it would be tough playing a third seed who's been a top 100 player. I will look forward to come back fresh and look forward to Delhi."
"Although I did not win but I felt as if I really improved... But actually I'm happy with the way I played.
"Having said that if I had taken my chances whatever few had come I could have turned it around. In both the sets, I had lost chances in his serves," he said.
