Top seed Chun-hsin Tseng entered the round-of-16 of the Bengaluru Open ATP Challenger 100 with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Frederico Ferreira Silva at the KSLTA courts here on Monday.
Tseng, winner of the first of two back-to-back Challengers here last year, broke in the third game of the first set before holding on to take it 6-4.
The World No. 131 from Taipei was the aggressor, often hitting the ball flat and with near-zero net clearance. Ferreira Silva’s approach to load the ball with top-spin and just keep it in play didn’t pay dividends.
But in the second set, this strategy messed with Tseng’s rhythm, but Ferreira Silva’s own serve proved dodgy. Each of the first five games saw breaks of serve before Tseng held to 4-2 after erasing two break-points.
From there on, Tseng didn’t look back, finishing the contest with a fine ace down the T.
Prajnesh makes the grade
Earlier, in qualifying, Prajnesh Gunneswaran made the grade, joining fellow Indians Sumit Nagal and S.D. Prajwal Dev in the main draw. Mukund Sasikumar, however, fell in the final round.
The results (main draw, first round): Chun-hsin Tseng (Tpe) bt Frederico Ferreira Silva (Por) 6-4, 6-4; Luca Nardi (Ita) bt Miljan Zekic (Srb) 6-4, 6-4; Marc Polmans (Aus) bt Francesco Maestrelli (Ita) 6-1, 6-2.
Qualifying (final round): Jason Jung (Tpe) bt Mukund Sasikumar 7-5, 6-4; Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt Carlos Sanchez Jover 6-4, 6-3.
