Derepasko accounts for Sandeep

But seventh-seeded Saurav Panja and eight-seeded Shivashanker Kambargimath both India lost their opening encounters. Panja lost to Minh Le of US 7-6 5, 2-6, 2-6 while Kambargimath bowed out to Anton Kokurin of Uzbekistan 1-6, 7-6 7, 2-6 in a two-hour, 10-minute battle.

Top-seeded Artem Derepasko of Russia, who won the second leg at Mumbai, registered a hard fought victory over unseeded Indian Sandeep Kirtane 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 3 in two hours, 16 minutes. He now meets Russian Mazur Dimitri in the pre-quarterfinals. Mazur breezed past Indian qualifier Sanzaruz Zaman 6-4, 6-0.

Second-seeded Prahlad Srinath of India also advanced to the second round. Srinath, who won the first leg at Bangalore, defeated Ashley Ford of Australia 6-3, 6-3 in 75 minutes. Srinath now meets countryman Rohan Bopanna, a wildcard entrant, in the pre-quarterfinals.

Other results

Men8217;s singles first round: 3-Syed Fazaluddin Ind bt Vijay Kannan Ind 6-7 1, 7-5, 6-1; 4-Harsh Mankad bt P Ravikrishna 6-2, 6-0; Nitin Kirtane Ind bt Kedar Shah Ind 7-5, 6-3; Vasudeva Reddy Ind bt Kamala Kannan Ind 6-3, 6-4; Vijayendra Laad Ind bt Vishal Uppal Ind 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.

Doubles pre-quarterfinals: Prahlad Srinath/Vasudeva Reddy bt Sandeep/Nitin Kirtane 6-3, 6-2; Ashley Ford/Syed Fazaluddin bt Anton Kokurin/Dimitri Mazur 6-3, 6-1; Artem Derepasko/Harsh Mankad bt Kamala Kannan/Vinod Sridhar 6-0, 6-3; Alexander Sikanov/Andrei Youznyi w/o Vijay Kannan/Saurav Panja; Shailesh Dhoble/Anand Radhakrishnan bt Vijendra Laad/Sanzaruz Zaman 6-3, 6-2; Ravi Kiran Bhat/Rohan Bopanna bt Chandrashekhar Mohanty/Siddharth Sudhakar 7-5, 6-4; Minh Le/Jay Udwadia bt Shivashanker Kambargimath/Anjan Viplav 6-7 8-10, 6-4, 6-1; Mustafa Ghouse/Vishaal Uppal bt Avinash Arun/Manoj Mahadevan 6-2, 6-3.