National champion Ashutosh Singh and compatriot Vishnu Vardhan took different exit routes as India's challenge in men's singles of the $ 50,000 ATP Challenger tennis tournament came to a screeching end in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Qualifier Vishnu cut a sorry figure against Pakistani Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and went down tamely 3-6, 5-7 in the second round.
Ashutosh, on the other hand, tried his best before fourth seeded Go Soeda of Japan showed him the door with a tacky 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win.
Top seed Yen-Hsun Lu thrashed Peng Sun 6-4, 6-1, Frenchman Thomas Oger blew away Samuel Groth 6-3, 6-2, while second seed Gilles Muller staved off US-based Rajeev Ram's spirited figthback to eke out a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5) win.
In other matches, eighth seed Ricardo Mello tamed Colin Ebelthite 6-2, 7-6(2) and seventh seed Alexandre Kudryavtsev went past Adam Feeney 7-5, 6-4.