Easy passage for top seeds at ITF Dharwad Open

Sriram Balaji

Dharwad - Top seed Sriram Balaji took just an hour to dispose of Ajai Selvaraj 6-0, 6-4 and sail into the second round of the $10,000 ITF Dharwad Open International Men’s Futures Tennis here on Tuesday.

It was a typical Balaji show as he kept the pressure on an error-prone Selvaraj with his booming serve and powerful ground strokes at the Dharwad District Lawn Tennis Association courts.

Balaji raced through the first set without giving much chance to his rival. Selvaraj, after conceding a break in the first game, came up with a much better display in the second set and had the chance to break his rival back on couple of occasions.

Balaji, however, kept his focus and warded of his challenge and the closed the set and match at 6-4. Balaji’s second round opponent would be Siddarth Rawat.

Second seed Sanam Singh, winner at Davangere, took a similar route beating qualifier Rajat Maheshwari 6-2, 6-1 in just 48 minutes. Davis Cupper Sanam will face Kaza Vinayak Sharma in the next round on the morrow.

Ramkumar Ramanathan, 17, a former junior Indian team player, had an impressive first round outing as he dumped his American rival William Kendall 6-2, 6-3 with a fine all court game. The mercurial American qualifier struggled to find answer to Ramkumar’s steady game and well timed volleys.

However, the match of the day was when Arjun Khade staged a fine fightback to upset seventh seeded American Michael Shabaz 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-1.

Shabaz had a match point, leading 6-4 in the second set, before Khade turned the tide.

The fourth seed Vijayant Malik showed no mercy as he crushed Fariz Mohammed 6-2, 6-1 while the hard hitting Siddarth Rawat prevailed over Kunal Anand 6-2, 7-5.

Dutchman, Jeroen Benard proved too good for Neeraj Elangvoan and won 6-2, 6-3 while P. Vignesh out performed wild card Shabaz Khan 7-6(5), 6-2.

Second round singles results:

Sriram Balaji bt Ajai Selvaraj 6-0, 6-4; Jeroen Benard bt Neeraj Elangovan 6-2, 6-3; Sidharth Rawat bt Kunal Anand 6-2, 7-5; Ramkumar Ramanathan bt William Kendall 6-2, 6-3; Vignesh Peranmallur bt Shahbaaz Khan 7-6(5), 6-2; Vijayant Malik bt Fariz Mohammed 6-2, 6-1; Sanam Singh bt Rajat Maheshwari 6-2, 6-1; Arujun Khade bt Michael Shabaz 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-1; Sergei Krotiouk bt Lorenz Ilg 6-4, 6-2; Torsten Wietoska bt Ashwin Vijayaraghavn 6-4, 6-4; Lakshit Sood bt Jatin Dahiya 7-6(3), 6-4.