Merchant Wins Indian Open Advanced Men's Singles, Defeats Bhati 12-10, 11-8

Raaquib Merchant stood at CrossCourts in Hyderabad on April 2 and did something he had never done before: win the Advanced Men's Singles title at the Indian Open. His 12-10, 11-8 victory over Shivraj Singh Bhati opened the PWR 1000 event's first day and announced Merchant as one of domestic pickleball's most compelling storylines heading into the rest of 2026.

The opening game set the tone. Both players traded the advantage through the mid-game in a tense, back-and-forth contest that neither could separate cleanly until the final exchanges. Merchant seized the decisive late-game moments to take it 12-10, a margin that reflected how little separated the two. Bhati responded in the second game by sharpening his aggression and pushing Merchant into uncomfortable court positions, but Merchant steadied, cut his unforced errors, and closed it out 11-8.

"This is the first time I've won the Advanced Singles title," Merchant told Pickleball Now after the match. "Shivraj Singh Bhati gave me a tough fight. He's been training really hard. But I have also fought really hard, and I wanted to win so badly. I'm exhausted, but it was worth it."

The win lands at a significant moment in Merchant's career arc. He carried a bronze medal from the Bharat Open in Open Men's Singles into this week, a result that signaled rising consistency rather than a single outlier performance. Winning a PWR 1000 title now reinforces that trajectory and will bolster his seeding for higher-tier draws in the months ahead.

The broader context of the Indian Open amplifies what the result means. More than 1,100 players registered across 54 categories at CrossCourts, making it one of the largest domestic pickleball gatherings of the year. The PWR 1000 designation, elevated for 2026, draws stronger fields and larger prize pools that put every result under sharper scrutiny. Merchant's title on opening day, in the first match of his life at this level, carries weight that a win at a smaller event simply would not.

The tournament runs through April 5, with pro draws continuing alongside the massive amateur field. The question now is whether the rest of the draw produces a singles champion who can match the standard Merchant set on day one.