Yuki warms up with a win

Top-seeded Yuki Bhambri warmed up with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Joel Kincaid of the U.S. in the first round of the $10,000 ITF men's Futures tennis tournament here on Monday.

It was the first match for the 18-year-old Yuki in the ITF circuit, after he had limped out of the final, when he lost to Vishnu Vardhan from the brink of victory in Chandigarh on April 16. Painful knees have hampered Yuki's tennis in recent weeks, and the unranked American was easy meat for him. Yuki will next meet qualifier Mohit Mayur, who eased past fellow qualifier Ronit Singh Bisht who retired after just two games.

Figuring in the top quarter with Yuki, Karunuday Singh fought his way past Vivek Shokeen in three sets. A strained muscle has been preventing Karunuday, a second year student from the University of Illinois, from firing his best serves consistently. ,Wild card Kunal Anand humbled Koki Matsunaga of Japan, but another wild card Prateek Kumar failed to win a game against V. Vignesh.

The results: Singles (first round): Yuki Bhambri bt Joel Kincaid (US) 6-2, 6-4; Mohit Mayur bt Ronit Singh Bisht 2-0 (retired); Karunuday Singh bt Vivek Shokeen 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Vitali Reshetnikov (Rus) bt Rohit Bisht 6-3, 6-3; Kunal Anand bt Koki Matsunaga 7-6(3), 6-0; Vijayant Malik bt Wing-Lun Lam (Hkg) 6-2, 6-3; V. Vignesh bt Prateek Kumar 6-0, 6-0.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Tejesvi Rao & B. Vikram Reddy w/o Ronit Singh Bisht & Mohit Mayur; Yannick Nelord & Ajai Selvaraj bt Fariz Mohammed & V. Vignesh 6-3, 6-7(5), 10-5; Tejas Chaukulkar & Neeraj Elangovan bt Naveen Saai & Sumeet Shinde 6-3, 6-1; P.C. Vignesh & Ashwin Vijayaragavan bt Kunal Anand & Aaditya Tewari 4-6, 6-1, 12-10; Rohan Gajjar & Divij Sharan bt Abhijeet Tiwari & Akash Wagh 6-4, 6-4.