Bhambri stamps his class

Near the end of his match against Nihal Kapoor,Yuki Bhambri had to jump to avoid a fierce forehand return which landed straight at his feet from the other side of the net.

Near the end of his match against Nihal Kapoor,Yuki Bhambri had to jump to avoid a fierce forehand return which landed straight at his feet from the other side of the net. With a wry smile,the fourth seed pushed the ball away and continued his preparations for the next shot. There was certainly no cause to worry at that point,just like the proceedings of the rest of the match.

In the first round of this weeks $15,000 ITF Futures at the DLTA Complex,the junior world No 1 enjoyed a 6-2 6-0 win over Kapoor,who entered the main draw as a lucky loser replacing Nicholas Edlefsen of the United States,but that was just about as far as his luck would run.

He won two games right at the beginning of the match,and that proved to be all that would come his way once Yuki got going. The 17-year-olds forehand fired off plenty of winners as he managed a double break,and though a couple of double faults while serving for the set meant he had to battle off a break point,he came up with a few good serves to ensure the set in his name 6-2.

In the first game of the second on Kapoors serve,there were a string of deuces as he tried to hold on,but eventually the break was Yukis. As the depth of the fourth seeds groundstrokes regularly forced errors from Kapoor,the possibility of a comeback looked increasingly unlikely,and the underdog was duly dealt a bagel.

Yuki will take on Israels Tal Eros for a place in the quarter-final on Wednesday.

Ashutosh cruises
Ashutosh Singh also had a fairly easy time against Ankit Sachdeva as he dropped just two games in a 6-1 6-1 win to reach the second round. Vivek Shokeen was playing the same opponent Vijayant Malik of Chandigarh in a week,and while in the last meeting,Shokeen had taken three sets to win,on Tuesday,he had it easy as he chalked out a 6-2 6-3 victory. Shokeen now faces top seed Kento Takeuchi.

Karunuday Singh,who reached the main draw after coming through the qualifying rounds,pulled off a good win against Uzbekistans Vaja Uzakov,dominating in a 6-1 6-4 victory.

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Results (singles): Yuki Bhambri bt Nihal Kapoor 6-2 6-0; Kento Takeuchi (Japan) bt Navdeep Singh 6-3 7-6 (0); Vivek Shokeen bt Vijayant Malik 6-2 6-3; VM Ranjeet bt PC Vignesh 3-6 6-3 6-1; Karunuday Singh bt Vaja Uzakov (Uzbekistan) 6-1 6-4; Fariz Mohammed bt Ashwin Vijayragavan 7-6 (0) 1-0 retired; Rohan Gajjar bt Nikunj Siwach 6-3 1-2 retired; Divij Sharan bt Maniel Bains (Great Britain) 6-4 6-1; Mithun Murali bt Kaza Vinayak Sharma 6-4 6-2; Tal Eros (Israel) bt Vijay Sundar Prashanth 1-6 7-6 (5) 2-1 retired; Purav Raja bt Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy 6-3 6-2; Ashutosh Singh bt Ankit Sachdeva 6-1 6-1; Vishnu Vardhan bt Rohan Gide 6-3 6-2.

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