The lone Indian left in fray at the ATP Challenger Series' SAIL Open, Ashutosh Singh crashed out after a straight-sets loss to Australian Colin Ebelthite in a rain-interrupted second round match of the US $50,000 tournament.
The wildcard local favourite, who stunned eighth seed Alexandre Kudryatsev of Russia in the opening round on Tuesday, was handed a 4-6, 4-6 defeat by Ebelthite, bringing the curtain down on the Indian challenge in the singles.
In what turned out to be a lopsided contest, interrupted by a dust storm and heavy rain that left players and officials scurrying for cover, Ashutosh was done in by backhand errors and the inability to match his opponent's power.
The national champion was faced with a couple of break points in the third game itself but managed to save them with fine serves.
However, he could not save the next break that he conceded in the seventh game as Ebelthite broke him courtesy yet another backhand error by Ashutosh. The Indian had his share of chances and could have gone a break up in the previous game but squandered them with misplaced returns.
Ebelthite, ranked 234 in the world, more than 300 places above Ashutosh, was never really challenged by the home favourite as he wrapped the first set with ease before heavy rain preceded by a powerful dust storm halted the proceedings for more than two hours.
The Indian led 1-0 in the second set on his serve before rain played spoilsport. The grit and determination that Ashutosh showed while beating Kudryatsev was missing in the Indian's game today and once the match restarted, Ebelthite seized control of the proceedings and broke the home favourite once before advancing to the quarter-finals.
