Vivek fights his way to Rd 2

Shokeen looked dangerously close to a straight-sets exit in the first round of his match against Malik,and he played it close. The break which kept him alive in the contest came in the ninth game,when he broke his opponent’s serve to take the second set away. Malik began tightening up on his groundstrokes,and Shokeen snapped up the opportunity to move in for the break.

With the match level at a set all,the Delhi player whacked off some sharp forehands to get close to a break on Malik’s serve,but while he threatened to do so regularly,it never came. Just before the fifth game,though,the Chandigarh youngster needed medical attention on his right leg,and a few minutes later,it was clear he was in no state to continue.

However,just when it looked like the match would end abruptly due to retirement,Malik indicated that he wanted to play on. Incredibly,after hanging on to his service game to make it 5-5,he even managed three break points on Shokeen’s serve in the next game. However,the wild card entrant held on and broke Malik in the next game to bring the match to a tame end.

In another match,Ronak Manuja and Abhijeet Tiwari traded plenty of long,fierce rallies from the back of the court,and Manuja just about pulled off a victory in two close sets 7-5 7-6 (3).

Results: Vivek Shokeen bt Vijayant Malik 3-6 6-4 7-5; B Vikram Reddy bt Vaja Uzakov (UZB) 6-3 7-6 (7); PC Vignesh bt Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy 4-6 6-3 6-1; Ronak Manuja bt Abhijeet Tiwari 7-5 7-6 (3)