Chandigarh, Feb14 (UNI) Qualifiers Siddharth Vishwakarma, Shahbaaz Khan, Vignesh Peranamallur, Haadin Bava and wild card Rishab Sharda moved into singles second round of the
15,000 ITF Men’s Futures Tennis Tournament at the Sector 10 Tennis Stadium here today. Siddharth Vishwakarma took 61 minutes to dispose of the challenge of Timur Khabibulin in straight sets 6-1, 7-5. Shahbazz Khan, down by a set, rallied to dispose of the challenge of Rishab Agarwal in three sets 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in a marathon two hours and 39 minutes tussle. Haadin Bava lost the first set before bouncing back into the game with a vengeance against Dalwinder Singh. It was the longest match so far as it lasted two hours and 52 minutes and the second and third sets extended to tie-breakers to end the deadlock. Bava lost the first set at 2-6 but hit back by just managing to clinch the next two sets in tie-breaker by 7-6 (5) and 7-6 (4). Vignesh Peranamallur defeated Adil Kalyanpur 6-3, 7-6 (7). Wild card Rishabh Sharda, a 17 years old trainee of CLTA, caused a mild upset by defeating qualifier Anirudh Chandershekhar in straight sets 6-2, 6-4. Matching his older opponent in skill and speed Rishabh ran through the first set at 6-2. Anirudh fought back strongly to take a 3-0 lead in the second set. Displaying great fighting quality and anticipation and cheered on by other young supporters from CLTA’s junior programme Rishabh took four games in a row to lead at 4-3. Thereafter in a game marked by long rallies from the baseline Rishabh prevailed to capture the second set 6-4 and pocketed the match. An indigenous product of CLTA’s junior development programme, Rishabh fully justified the wild card that CLTA had generously given to him. The next important test for Rishabh Sharda, would be a tough opponent Sriram Balaji the number 2 in the tournament. According to Rishabh’s coach Romen Singh, Chief Coach, CLTA the boy has potential to go higher in the men’s circuit. This was Rishabh’s first outing in ITF Men’s tournaments. Another former CLTA trainee Sanam Singh, an Asian gold medalist, came back from deficit in the first set to win in tie breaker at 7-6 (2) and clinched the second set and the match at 6-3. Sanam Singh is now a Police Officer, but trains at CLTA whenever he is in Chandigarh and also conducts clinics to inspire young generation of tennis players in CLTA. Vinsant Shane of USA upset 6th seed Prashanth N. 6-1, 6-3. Results Singles (Ist round): Rishabh Sharda (IND) bt. Anirudh Chandershekhar (IND) 6-2, 6-1; Sanam Singh (IND) bt. Karunuday Singh (IND) 7-6(2), 6-3; [3]Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt. Paramveer Bajwa (IND) 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(6); Shabaaz Khan (IND) bt. Rishabh Aggarwal (IND) 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(5); Niki Poonacha (IND) bt. [8]Jose Fco. Vidal Zorin (ESP); Aryan Goveas (IND) bt. Haenle Pirmin 7-5, 6-2; Peranamallur V. (IND) bt. Adil Kalyanpur (IND) 6-3, 7-6(7); [7]Sidharth Rawat (IND) bt. Jaiprakash M. (IND) 6-4, 6-4; Vinsant Shane (USA) bt. [6] Prashanth N. (IND) 6-1, 6-3; Hadin Bava (IND) bt. Dalwinder Singh (IND) 2-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(4); [4] S. Mukund (IND) bt. Terczynski Mateusz (POL) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; S. Vishawakarma (IND) bt. Khabibulin Timur (KAZ) 6-1, 7-5. UNI XC JS PY PM2041