Myneni, Balaji win on day one in Pune, 4 others suffer defeat

Saketh Myneni and N Sriram Balaji made a winning start at the KPIT Challenger but four other Indians, including wild card Vishnu Vardhan, bowed out of the ATP Challenger event in Pune.
Myneni, who has struggled this season due to fitness issues, made full use of the wildcard, by quelling the challenge of Tomislav Brkic 6-4 4-6 6-2 in the opening round of the USD 50,000 event.
Before that, Balaji had dispatched Egypts Karim-Mohamed Maamoun 6-4 6-2.
However, it turned out to be a tough day in office for Vardhan, who lost 3-6, 6-6, 7-6 (6) to Kazakhstans Aleksandr Nedovyesov.

Last year's runner-up Prajnesh Gunneswaran suffered a 3-6 3-6 at the hands of seventh seed Briton Evan King. Also making an early exit was fifth seed Sidharth Rawat and N Vijay Sundar Prashanth.
Rawat fell prey to third seed Antonie Escoffier 2-6 3-6 while Prashanth was ousted 1-6 2-6 by Borna Gojo.