Radical Rao romps into Round 2

Zitko will now meet the first leg runner-up Thomas Messmer of Germany tomorrow in the quarter-final.

Unseeded Akshay Vishal Rao India managed to get past Matthis Kempe-Bergman of Sweden in a marathon three setter 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 to make it to the second round.

In the first set, there were as many as five breaks before Rao clinched the 12th game. Lanky Bergman bounced back into the match winning the second set 6-4.

In the decider, the former under-14 National champion from Chandigarh took an early 3-0 lead over the Swede but lost serve twice allowing the Swede to restore parity at 3-3. Rao once again broke the opponent8217;s serve to take the lead and then served out the match.

Saurav Panja of India blanked out qualifer Pawel Kozak of Austria 6-0, 6-2 while Andrei Youzhny of Russia came back strongly to beat Niko Karangiannis of Greece 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Results first round

Akshay Visahl Rao Ind bt Matthis Kempe-Bergman Sweden 7-5, 4-6, 6-4; Per Thornadtsson Sweden bt Kunj Majmudar US 7-6, 9-7, 7-5; Syed Fazalludin Ind bt Vijendra Laad Ind 6-2, 6-3; Sandeep Kirttane Ind bt Sanzaruz Zaman Ind 6-3, 6-2; Zbynek Mlynarik Aus bt Mustafa Ghouse Ind 6-0, 6-2; Radim Zitko Cze bt Anand Radhakrishnan Ind 6-3, 6-3; Prahlad Srinath Ind bt Shivshankar Kamburginath Ind 6-2, 6-1; Balazs Veress Hungary bt Vishaal Uppal Ind 6-1, 6-3; Coenie Van Wyk South Africa bt Vasudeva Reddy Ind 7-6 7-3, 6-0; Saurav Panja Ind bt Pawel Kozak Austria 6-0, 6-2; Thomas Messmer Ger bt Josef Nesticky Cze 7-6 7-5 6-1; Andrei Youzhny Russia bt Niko Karagiannis Greece 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.