Sridhar pips Uppal at the post

MUMBAI, JUNE 6: Third seed Vishal Uppal, the highest-ranked Indian in the main draw, became the first seeded casualty in the 6250 prize m...

MUMBAI, JUNE 6: Third seed Vishal Uppal, the highest-ranked Indian in the main draw, became the first seeded casualty in the 6250 prize money ITF 1st leg Satellite Tennis Tournament, going down to in three extended sets to Rishi Sridhar. Uppal failed to cross the very first hurdle as he lost 5-7, 7-6 7-5, 6-7 5-7 at the GA Ranade Tennis Centre on Tuesday.

Sridhar made the main draw as a Lucky Loser after Uppal8217;s rival, Romanian Nita Robert, failed to turn up. Rishi capitalised on his good fortune as he pipped the Indian Davis Cupper at the post after a two hour, 21 minutes sweat out.

Sridhar took four games in a row from down 3-5 to clinch the opening set in which both players played aggressively and took every opportunity to make forays at the net.

In the second set, Sridhar hit his return deep. However, Uppal was equal to the task. In fact, Sridhar had to ward off five deuces in the 8th game before holding serve. The issue meandered into tie-breaker which Uppal won 7-5 to come level-pegging.

Sridhar took early command of the decider by taking a 4-0 lead. However, he could not sustain the good work, finding his first serve hit the nets repeatedly to allow Uppal draw level at 4-4.

A dubious line call at a crucial stage of the tenth game went against Sridhar. But in the ensuring tie-break, Sridhar fired two aces to take lead 3-0 and stayed ahead to clinch the match.

An upbeat Sridhar said: 8220;The victory meant a lot to me. I have never beaten Vishal before, though I knew I could do it.8221;

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Top seed Danai Udomchoke Thailand sidelined Patril StalBark Sweden 6-0, 6-3 in just 49 minutes, while second seed Per Thornadtsson defeated Rohan Bopanna India 6-4, 6-3 in 72 minutes.

Mustafa Ghouse India made fifth seed Barry Fulcher struggle before bowing out 6-7 4-7, 5-7 in one hour and 45 minutes. It was a well-contest encouter in which the Indian showed good command and control from the forecourt.

1st round results seedings in prefix

1-Danai Udomchoke Tha bt Patril Stalbark Swe 6-0 6-3, 2-Per Thornadtsson Swe bt Rohan Bopanna Ind 6-4 6-3, Rishi Sridhar Ind bt 3-Vishal Uppal Ind 7-5 6-7 5-7, 7-6 7-5, 5-Barry Fulcher GB bt Mustafa Ghouse Ind 7-6 7-4 7-5, 7-Vinod Sridhar Ind bt Tushar Gautam Ind 6-1 6-1, 8-Kunj Majmudar USA bt Ravi Shankar Pathanjali Ind 6-2 6-2, Alexandre Sikanov Rus bt Phoemphon Atabut Tha 6-1 6-0, Manoj Mahadevan Ind bt Vikrant Chadha Ind 6-1, 6-3, Gwenael Gueit Fra bt Akshay Vishal Rao Ind 6-3 6-1, John Rom USA bt Vijendra Laad Ind 6-2 6-1, Kedar Shah Ind bt Arun Avinash Ind 6-2 6-2, Amod Wakalkar Ind bt Abhishek Jagnani Ind 7-6 7-3 6-0, Saurav Panja Ind bt Kamala Kannan Ind 6-4 6-4, Marian Leysek SVK bt Alexey Gavrilov Rus 6-3 5-7 7-6 8-6

Doubles 1st round: Charapol Khamsamarn/ DanaiUdomchoke Tha bt Akshay Jagdale/ Vinod Sridhar Ind 7-5 6-2, Vikrant Chadha Ind/ Kunj Majmudar USA bt Kedar Shah Ind/ Gwenael Gueit Fra 6-4 6-4