Tevlin ITF Futures: 2nd seed Sanam Singh marches into second round

India’s Sanam Singh breezed past Duck Hee Lee of Korea in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 to romp into the second round of the $15,000 Tevlin Men’s ITF F8 Futures tennis tournament being played in Toronto, Canada.

Sanam, who is seeded second in the tournament, made mincemeat of his Korean opponent, breaking his serve early in the first set to set the stage for a cozy opening set triumph.

The 25-year-old Chandigarh-born lad did not allow any complacency to creep into his game in the second set after the facile first set win.

Sanam, who slumped forty places in the latest ATP rankings, kept unsettling Duck with solid serves as well as razor sharp groundstrokes and nifty net play.

The 379^th ranked Indian broke the Korean’s serve when it mattered, to put the onus on his opponent to mount a fightback, something that never saw the light of the day as the former pocketed the second set at 6-3 for a comprehensive win and marched into the second round.

Sanam now faces American Evan King in round two.

Another Indian Vijayant Malik also made a good beginning in the Toronto Futures, disposing of Canadian qualifier Alexandru Pasareanu in straight sets 6-3, 6-0.

The fourth seeded Indian was quick off the blocks and breached the Canadian’s serve early in the first set, which was enough for him to seal the set at 6-3.

With an extra spring in his stride after the first set win, Vijayant literally decimated Pasareanu in the second set, effecting three breaks of serve to bag the set at love for a smooth passage to the second round.

The 450^th ranked Indian now meets Sekou Bangoura of the US in the second round.

Meanwhile at the Sharm El Sheikh Egypt F24 ITF Futures tennis tournament, India’s N Sriram Balaji stormed into the second round with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Canada’s Eric Vehovec.

The second seeded Indian, who plunged sixty nine places in the latest ATP rankings, is coming off a semifinal finish in the Sharm El Sheikh Egypt F23 ITF Futures tennis tournament last week.

Earlier, India’s highest ranked men’s singles player Somdev Devvarman made a surprising first round exit in the ATP Istanbul Challenger tennis tournament.

Somdev, who climbed thirteen spots to hold the101st position in the latest ATP rankings, came unstuck against the superior play of 175^th ranked Russia Konstantin Kravchuk and lost in straight sets 2-6, 3-6.

878^th ranked Indian Purav Raja lost to 504^th ranked Constant Lestienne of France 6-4, 2-6, 2-6 in the qualifying round of the ATP Petange Challenger.