Adil Kalyanpur began well with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Kenny Bun of Cambodia in the $5000 Asian Tennis Tour inaugural event at the DLTA Complex here on Monday.
Kenny Bun, a wild-card entrant, had the game, but lacked match experience to tackle a player of the calibre of Kalyanpur, who was razor sharp. Kalyanpur had helped the India under-16 team to the World Group in Junior Davis Cup recently.
Another wild card entrant, Tenzin Dorji of Bhutan, also had to undergo a similar treatment from big-serving Vishnu Vardhan, who cruised home in 34 minutes.
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Vishnu will meet Kalyanpur in the quarterfinals.
Qualifier Abhishek Gaur gave a good account of himself against fourth-seed Kunal Anand, but could not stretch the fight beyond the tie-break in the first set.
In the second set, Abhishek, who had won the singles and doubles titles in Rs.50,000 event last week, bounced back from 0-3, to 3-3, before the match was shifted to court No.1 because of inadequate light on court No.6. On to the well-lit court, Anand played his vibrant game to close out the match 7-6(4), 6-3.
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Arnav Alok Goel, who lost the final qualifying round to Abhishek Gaur, made the main draw as a lucky-loser which ensured $325 for him.
Thus, a 6-2, 6-0 defeat at the hands of Siddharth Vishwakarma may not hurt him much.
The results:
First round: Vishnu Vardhan bt Tenzin Dorji (Bhu) 6-1, 6-1; Adil Kalyanpur bt Kenny Bun (Cam) 6-2, 6-2; Kunal Anand bt Abhishek Gaur 7-6(4), 6-3; Jayesh Pungliya bt Garvit Batra 6-1, 6-1; Siddharth Vishwakarma bt Arnav Alok Goel 6-2, 6-0; Vijayant Malik bt Suraj Prabodh 6-1, 6-4; Sidharth Rawat bt Niki Poonacha 6-2, 6-3.
Qualifying singles (second and final round): Vijayant Malik bt Kshitij Kamal 6-0, 6-2; Abhishek Gaur bt Arnav Alok Goel 6-3, 6-3; First round: Vijayant Malik bt Suraj Beniwal 6-1, 6-2.