Tak Khunn Wang of France registered a 6-3, 6-1 win over second-seeded N. Sriram Balaji of India in a first round match of the Vasan Eye Care — ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament, organised by Tiruchi District Tennis Association, here on Tuesday.
It was Wang’s third win over Balaji in as many weeks. The former earned a break point in the fifth game of the first set, but the Indian used his big serves to good effect to go up 3-2.
Wang, however, managed to convert a breakpoint in the seventh when Balaji hit a forehand long. Wang broke the second-seed again in the ninth to take the first set 6-3.
Balaji hit a few lovely winners, but committed unforced errors at crucial junctures. He lost serve in the fourth game of the second set to go down 1-3. He could have made amends in the very next game, but failed to convert the four breakpoints that came his way.
Up 4-1, Wang broke Balaji again before holding serve to wrap up the set and match.
In another fixture, Claudio Fortuna of Italy scored a 7-5, 6-2 win over third-seeded Vishnu Vardhan of India.
Meanwhile, top-seed Victor Crivoi of Romania was forced to retire early in the first set due to back pain during his opening round match against compatriot Patrick Ciorcila.
The results (Indians unless mentioned): First round: Singles: V.M. Ranjeet bt Giulio Torroni (Ita) 6-1, 6-2; Thales Turini (Bra) bt Vignesh Veerabadran 6-1, 6-2; Augusto Laranja (Bra) bt Austin Karosi (USA) 6-4, 6-1; Elwin Antony bt Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-4; Patrick Ciorcila (Rou) bt Victor Crivoi (Rou) 2-1 (retd.); Filippo Leonardi (Ita) bt Caio Silva (Bra) 6-4, 6-2; Claudio Fortuna (Ita) bt Vishnu Vardhan 7-5, 6-2.
N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Libor Salaba (Cze) 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-2; Laslo Urrutia Fuentes (Chi) bt Ashwin Vijayragavan 6-4, 6-3; Tak Khunn Wang (Fra) bt N. Sriram Balaji 6-3, 6-1; Maximilian Dinslaken (Ger) bt Arjun Kadhe 6-4, 6-2; Mats Moraing (Ger) bt Chih-Jen Ho (Tpe) 6-4, 6-4.
