Mandya (Karnataka), May 18 (IANS): Local challenger Suraj R. Prabodh rallied from a one-set deficit to overcome Japan's Kazuma Kawachi 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the first round of the Men's ITF $10,000 Mandya Open tennis tournament here on Monday.
Third seed Karunuday Singh, the only seeded player of the tournament to take to the court on the day, saw off wild card and fellow Indian Nitin Kumar Sinha 6-3, 6-4.
Another wild card S.D. Prajwal Dev made a mockery of rankings when he ousted second seed in the qualifiers Tejas Chaukulkar 6-2, 6-2 to enter the second round.
Suraj began rather shabbily despite being ranked higher than the Japanese. Even in the second set, the Karnataka No.1 player was a break down, trailing 1-2. He then got into his grove to make it 5-3 but lost the next two games before shrugging off the stress to win the next two games to force the decider which he comfortably clinched.
Results:
Singles (first round): 3-Karunuday Singh bt Nitin Kumar Sinha 6-3, 6-4; Suraj Prabodh bt Kazuma Kawachi (Jpn) 3-6, 7-5, 6-3; Bhavesh Gour bt Kunal Vazirani 6-4, 6-4; Ronit Singh Bisht bt Jatin Dahiya 7-5, 6-3; Abdullah Shaikh bt Ribhav Ravikiran 6-2, 6-0; S.D. Prajwal Dev bt Tejas Chaukulkar 6-2, 6-2; Sidharth Rawat bt Siddarth Vishwakarma 3-6, 6-4, 6-0.
Doubles (first round): Jui-Chen Hung (Tpe) / Sasi Kumar Mukund bt Bhavesh Gour / Aaditya Tiwari 7-5, 6-2; Sahil Gaware / Kunal Vazirani bt Irfan Hussain / Rashein Samuel 6-0, 6-3; 3-Chandril Sood / Lakshit Sood bt Ronit Singh Bisht / Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha 6-1, 2-6, 10-7; 2-Anvit Bendre / Akash Wagh bt Aryan Goveas / Nitin Kumar Sinha 6-4, 4-6, 10-4; 1-Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash / Ranjit Virali-Murugesan bt S.D. Prajwal Dev / Suraj R. Prabodh 6-4, 6-4.