Indian wild card Somdev Dev Varman caused the biggest upset of the ITF Futures tournament when he shocked third seed Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan, who had won the Dehra Dun and Delhi legs, 6-3, 6-3 in an hour and 40 minutes at the Dr Ranade Centre in Mumbai on Tuesday.
The Indian broke his opponent in the fifth and seventh games to win the first set 6-3 and then broke again in the fifth and ninth games of the second to take the set and match at 6-3.
Indian Davis Cupper and top seed Rohan Bopanna and his compatriot and fifth seed Sunil Kumar Sipaeya recorded contrasting wins on way to the second round.
Bopanna, playing a solid baseline game, drubbed qualifier Ivan Anikanov of Ukraine 6-3, 6-1 in an hour and 10 minutes while the diminutive Sipaeya needed two hour 35 minutes to pip another qualifier, Kedar Tembe 7-6(7-1), 4-6, 6-3.
Vinod Sridhar became the second Indian to sail into the second round today. Playing a serve and volley game to perfection, the Indian crushed Mikhall Ledovskikh of Russia 6-0, 6-2 in the battle of two unseeded players which lasted just 40 minutes.
Another Indian and lucky loser Jaco Matthew lost his first round match to qualifier Adrian Gavrila of Romania 4-6, 4-6 while two other qualifiers, Murad Inoyatov and Eduard Khan (both from Uzbekistan) were made to sweat by their opponents.
Inoyatov pipped lucky loser Sergei Krotiouk of Russia 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 in two hours and 25 minutes while Khan needed two tie-breaks to subdue Benot Foucher of France 7-6(7-3), 7-6(7-2) in two hours and 10 minutes.
The Bopanna-Anikanov encounter turned out to be fairly one-sided with the Indian dominating the proceedings. In the first set the Indian broke his rival in the fifth and seventh games before serving out the set at 6-3.
In the second, Bopanna tightened the grip with a 3-0 lead before Anikanov could win the only game of the set on his serve in the fourth game. The Indian won as he pleased at 6-1.
Second seed and Indian Davis Cupper Harsh Mankad too had an easy outing, beating qualifier Manoj Mahadevan of India 6-4, 6-2 in an hour and 15 minutes.
Former India Davis Cupper Nitin Kirtane fought well before going down 6-7(7-9), 2-6 to qualifier Dmitriy Makayev of Kazakhstan while lucky loser Sarvar Ikramov of Uzbekistan beat sixth seed Melvyn Op Der Heijde of the Netherlands after Heijde retired in the second set due to injury.
Ikramov had taken the first set 6-1 and was leading 4-0 when his rival threw-in the towel.
Results (men's singles) first round: Rohan Bopanna (Ind) bt Ivan Anikanov (Ukr) 6-3, 6-1; Sunil Kumar Sipaeya (Ind) bt Kedar Tembe (Ind) 7-6(7-1), 4-6, 6-3; Murad Inoyatov (Uzb) bt Sergei Krotiouk (Rus) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1; Eduard Khan (Uzb) bt Benot Foucher (Fra) 7-6(7-3), 7-6(7-2), Adrian Gavrila (Rom) bt Jaco Mathew (Ind) 6-4, 6-4, Harsh Mankad (Ind) bt Manoj Mahadevan (Ind) 6-4, 6-2; Dmitriy Makayev (Kaz) bt Nitin Kirtane (Ind) 7-6(9-7), 6-2; Vinod Sridhar (Ind) bt Mikhall Ledovskikh (Rus) 6-0, 6-2; Sarvar Ikramov (Uzb) bt Melvyn Op Der Heijde (Ned) 6-1, 4-0 (conceded).
Doubles (first round): Mustafa Ghouse (Ind)/ Aisam Qureshi (Pak) bt Ashutosh Singh/ Amod Wakalkar (Ind) 7-6(7-1), 6-3; Kamala Kannan/Manoj Mahadevan (Ind) bt Murad Inoyatov/ Denis Isaev (Uzb) 5-7, 7-6(7-5), 7-6(7-3); Rishi Behl/ Saurabh Kohli (Ind) bt Mikhail Ledovskikh/ Timur Lomtatidze (Rus) 7-5, 6-4; Vishal Punna/ Vinod Sridhar (Ind) bt Eduard Khan (Uzb)/Dimitriy Makeyen (Kaz) 6-3, 6-4l; Sarwar Ikramov (Uzb)/Sergei Krotiouk (Rus) bt M Op Der Heijde/ Jasper Smit (Ned) 6-3, 1-0 (conceded); Ajay Ramaswami/S K Sipaeya (Ind) bt Nitin Kirtane/Sandeep Kirtane(Ind) 6-3, 7-5.
