Third seed Sunil Kumar Sipaeya became the first seeded casualty in the $ 100,000 Asian Tennis Championship in Tashkent, Uzbekistan as two more Indians crashed out in the opening round on Tuesday.
Sipaeya went down fighting to Kuwait's Mohammed Al Ghareeb 6-7 (14/16), 5-7 in an evenly contested match while his doubles partner Vishal Uppal was made to bite the dust by local boy Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-1.
The third Indian to suffer the reverse was Rushmi Chakravarthi who was packed off by her Uzbekistan rival Ivanna Israilova 6-3, 6-2.
But India's best bet in the women's event Sania Mirza moved up in style blanking Huynh Huynh of Vietnam 6-0, 6-0.
Against Sipaeya, Al Ghareeb, ranked almost 300 rungs below Sipaeya on the ATP ladder, never loosened his grip after winning an edge-of-the-seat first set tie-break.
The Indian did not give away easy points but said he probably put too much pressure on himself.
"I wanted this win very badly, I was too tight," he said.
Al Ghareeb now runs into Thailand's Bhee Witoonpanich in the pre-quarters.
