Pune:
Reigning National Champion Vishnu Vardhan scored a 7-6(5) 6-7(6) 6-3 win over Yannik Reuter of Belgium to enter the second round of the KPIT-MSLTA ATP Challenger at the Mhalunge Balewadi Tennis Complex here.
In the first round match, Vardhan, currently ranked 619 in the world, justified the organisers faith in awarding him a wildcard. He served over 25 aces in a two hour and 35 minute tussle to scrape past 339 ranked Belgian player and make it to the second round of a ATP event after a year.
“I’m thankful to the organisers for giving me a wildcard, it makes it easy for someone like me who is making a comeback after a four-month lay off,” said the London Olympian.
Vardhan led 5-2 in the first set before losing momentum and letting Reuter level scores and face a tiebreak, which he won.
In the second set, both players held on to their serves to force a tiebreak. But this time, the Belgian prevailed over his Indian rival.
In the third set, Vardhan set up an early break in the third game and set up a credible win.
Richard Becker of Germany, who made it to the main draw as the last entry, outplayed Japanese Uchiyama 7-5 6-1 in an hour 20 minutes.
In an all India doubles affair, wild card entrants Somdev Devvarman and N Vijay Sundar Prashanth posted a 6-2 6-3 win over V M Ranjeet and N Shriram Balaji to make it to the doubles quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, Alexander Kudryatsev of Russia and Germany’s Richard Becker upset fourth seeds Adrian Menendez-Maceiras of Spain and Aleksandr Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan 6-4 4-6 10-7.
