Round 1 to Akshay Vishal

Pune, OCT 26: Akshay Vishal Rao saved his best for the last, much to the chagrin of Swedish qualifier Matthis Kempe-Bergman today at the ...

Pune, OCT 26: Akshay Vishal Rao saved his best for the last, much to the chagrin of Swedish qualifier Matthis Kempe-Bergman today at the Deccan Gymkhana.

The 17-year-old Indian, choking at times, came close to packing his kit but escaped to victory with a series of perfect backhand down-the-line shots mixed with timely lobs to make the second round of the 6,250 ITF men8217;s second-leg Satellite circuit.

The wild card entry won 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 and joins compatriots top seed Prahlad Srinath, second seed Syed Fazaluddin, eighth seed Sandeep Kirtane and cousin Nitin 8212; in the race for top honours.

Srinath 312, Fazaluddin 418 and Sandeep Kirtane faced little or no difficulty in knocking out their Indian opponents while another new face in second round Saurav Panja 874 felled Austrian Kozak Pawel 1300 6-0, 6-2 in 49 minutes.

Rao, the under-18 National champion, playing only his second Satellite event, struggled from the outset. He broke the Swede in fifth, ninth and 11th games to win 7-5 but notbefore breaks exchanged hands during the last four games.

The Indian raced to 3-0 40-15 in the third but visions of a fluent win were quelled by the 1300 ranked Swede 8212; a first-leg quarter-finalist 8212; who saved two break points here before cutting down the lead to 3-4.

Two backhand down-the-line shots helped Rao hold on to serve in the eighth game and he kept his nerve while effecting a couple of lobs in the next game to earn the all-important break at 5-4 en route to winning the match.

RESULTS seedings in prefix

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Singles first round: 1-Prahlad Srinath Ind, 312 bt Shivshanker Kanburgimath Ind, 1025 6-2, 6-1; Van Wyk Coenie Rsa bt Vasudeva Reddy Ind, 874 7-6 3, 6-0; 7-Mlynarik Zbynek Aut, 768 bt Mustafa Ghouse Ind, 949 6-0, 6-2; 4-Thornadtssoi Per Swz, 495 bt Kunj Majmudar USA, 1232 7-6 7, 7-5; Andrei Youzhny Rus, 1069 bt Niko Karagiannis Gre, 969 3-6, 6-1, 6-3; Balazs Veress Hun, 848 bt Vishal Uppal Ind, 969 6-1, 6-3; Thomas Messmer Ger, 949 btJosef Nesticky Cze, 978 7-6 5, 6-1; 3-Zitko Radim Cze, 464 bt Anand Radhakrishna Ind, 1154 6-3, 6-3; 8-Sandeep Kirtane Ind, 782 bt Zaman Sanzarus Ind, 1025 6-3, 6-2; Akshay Vishal Rao Ind bt Kempe-Bergma Matthis Swe 7-5, 4-6, 6-4; Saurav Panja Ind, 874 bt Pawel Kozak Aut, 1300 6-0, 6-2; 2-Syed Fazaluddin Ind, 418 bt Vijendra Laad Ind, 932 6-2, 6-3.

Doubles first round: 1-Sandeep Kirtane/Nitin Kirtane Ind, 575 bt Rohan Bopanna/ P Srinivasan Ind, 2053 6-4, 6-4; Thomas Messmer Ger/ Balazs Veress Hun, 1966 bt Blake Brinklow Aus/Marco Lillich Ger, 2377 6-4, 6-7, 6-4; Tom Chicoine/Kunj Majmudar USA bt 3-Zbynek Mlynarik Aut/Andrei Youzhny Rus, 1081 4-6, 7-5, 7-6.