Indian Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna scored a valiant straight-set victory over Simon Stadler of Germany to advance to the second round of the euro 42,500 ATP Challenger series tournament for the Surbiton Trophy in Great Britain on Thursday.
The Indian qualifier overcame a spirited challenge from his German opponent, ranked 168 in the ATP singles ranking charts, to register a 7-5, 7-6 (5) win in the first round of the British grass court event.
Bopanna, who is ranked as low as 310, next faces third seed and 95th ranked Arnaud Clement of France.
Clement, who once made the top-10 grade, had defeated Russian Andrey Golubev 6-4, 7-5 in his opening round.
Bopanna had beaten his Davis Cup teammate Prakash Amritraj 7-6 (1), 6-4 in the third and final round of the qualifying event to make the cut for the main draw yesterday.