Unseeded Elwin Anthony of Tamil Nadu showed fine proficiency on grass to outclass third seed Chandril Sood of Uttar Pradesh in the first round of the National grass court tennis championships here at the South Club on Monday.
Another unseeded Tamil Nadu player, Ajai Selvaraj, also scored an upset win over Chandril’s twin brother — seventh seed Lakshit — in a protracted three-setter.
The rest of the seeds in action — second seed Nitten Kirrtane of Maharashtra, fifth-seeded Abhijit Tewari of Chandigarh, sixth seed Ramkumar Ramanathan of Tamil Nadu and eighth-seeded Saurabh Sukul of Bengal — progressed to the next round with contrasting wins.
Elwin impressed with his game as he blanked the Chandril.
Needing little more than an hour to accomplish the upset, the 21-year-old Elwin was in control of the match right from the beginning.
He served and returned well and broke his fancied opponent in the eighth game to win the first set 6-3. He was more dominant in the second set as he broke Chandril thrice for a 6-0 result.
Ajai encountered a little more resistance from the other Sood — Lakshit — before winning a ticket to the pre-quarterfinals.
The Tamil Nadu player won the first set comfortably but slipped in the second when his Uttar Pradesh opponent levelled the set score. Ajai regained his composure in the decider and held his nerve to win 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
The results:
First round (singles):Men: Kunal Anand bt Saurabh Patil 6-3, 6-1; Ronak Manuja bt Rohit Sarwate (AP) 6-3, 6-3; Ajai Selvaraj (TN) bt Lakshit Sood (UP) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4; Elwin Antony (TN) bt Chandril Sood (UP) 6-3, 6-0; Manoj Sewa (Ben) bt S. Sai Saran Reddy (AP) 7-5, 6-0.
Vinod Sridhar (TN) bt Brahmjot Singh (Dli) 6-4, 6-3; Saurabh Sukul (Ben) bt Rajat Maheshwari (Mah) 7-5, 4-6, 6-4; Abhijeet Tiwari (Chd) bt Rithvik Anand (TN) 7-5, 6-3; Sagar Manjanna (Kar) bt Balaji Lakshmanan (TN) 7-6(5), 6-2.
Ramkumar Ramanathan (TN) bt Sagar Ahuja (Mah) 6-0, 6-3; Yash Deshpandey (Mah) bt Yogesh Phoghat (Har) 6-2, 6-2; Vinod Sewa (Ben) bt Manab Chakma (Asm) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4; Nitten Kirrtane (Mah) bt Rubal Shandilya (Bih) 7-5, 6-2.
Women: Vaniya Dangwal (Dli) bt Shehnaz Singh (Dli) 6-2, 6-0; Prathana Thombare (Mah) bt P. Snigdha (AP) 6-0, 6-0.
Mahitha D. Reddy (AP) bt Nupur Kaul (Mah) 6-4, 6-4; Renu Sharma (NTA) bt Shruti Archita (Mah) 7-6(1), 6-3.
