The form book was thrown out of the window as top seed Sunil Kumar Sipaeya crashed out in the first round of the ITF men's Satellite tennis championship in Chandigarh on Tuesday.
Sipaeya, national champion in 2001, lost 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 3-6 to Takeshi Itho of Japan in a thrilling contest.
In another first-round match, Vinod Sridhar beat compatriot Rishi Sridhar in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.
Ajay Ramaswamy moved into the second round after Briton Daniel Kiernan, who won the Mumbai leg of the Satellite circuit, retired at the end of the first set.
Ramaswamy had taken the first set 6-3.
Vishal Uppal also won his encounter, beating Janoson Blaha, the German retiring midway through the third set.
However, Manoj Mahadevan was not as lucky. He went down 6-2, 6-2 to Thailand's Febi Widhiyanto.