Top-seed Nagal downs Ranjeet; Kadhe upsets 4th-seed Gomez

Top-seeded Sumit Nagal of India rallied after losing the first set to beat experienced compatriot V M Ranjeet 3-6, 6-3, 6-0, while Arjun Kadhe upset fourth-seed Lucas Gomez of Mexico 6-2, 6-3 in the men's singles first round of the 8th MCC-S R Subramaniam Memorial ITF Men's Futures tennis championship here today.

The 20-year-old Nagal, who was returing to tournament play after an injury lay-off, appeared a bit rusty and his 32-year-old rival Ranjeet took full advantage to take the first set with a break in the 8th game.

Ranjeet played a steady game and capitalised on Nagal's uncharacteristic mistakes. He broke the top-seed's serve early in the second set to lead 2-1. At this point Sumit found his rhythm and range. He began to strike the ball powerfully and won 11 of the last 12 games to wrap the second set 6-3 and the third 6-0 to reach the second round.
 

Meanwhile, qualifier Kahde proved too good for the 4th seeded Gomez and won in straight sets. Having returned after completing a college stint in the US, the Indian served with precision and attacked with consistency to break down the Mexican's steadiness from the baseline.

In another upset, Korean Seong Gooh Oh outplayed sixth seeded Yurii Dzhakvakian of Ukraine, conceding only one game.

There were wins for No.3 seed Colin van Veen of the Netherlands and seventh-seed Cameron Silverman of USA.

Results (Indians if unless otherwise specified): Singles: Cameron Silverman (US) bt Jessy Kalamby (SUI) 6-3, 6-2; Arjun Kadhe bt Lucas Gomez (MEX) (4) 6-2, 6-3; Ju-Hae Moon (Korea) bt Dhruv Sunish 7-5, 6-2; Kelsey Stevenson (Canada) bt Vladimir Polyakov (Russia) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; Tae-Woo Lee (Kor) (8) bt Kunal Vazirani 6-3, 6-0.

Seong-Gook Oh (Kor) bt Yurii Dzhavakian (Ukr) (6) 6-0, 6-1; Colin van Been (Neth) bt Vinayak Sharma Kaza 6-3, 6-4; Anvit Bendre bt S D Prajwal Dev 6-3, 7-6(5); Paramveer Singh Bajwa bt Yu Hsiang Chiuu (Taipei) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Doubles: Yurii Dzhavakian/Jessy Kalambay bt Fahad Mohammed/Rishabdev Raman 7-6(6), 4-3 Retd; Tae-Woo Lee/Ju-Hae Moon bt Lucas Gomez/Kazuma Kawachi (Japan) (4) 6-3, 6-3; Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash/Vinayak Sharma Kaza (2) bt Cing-Yang Meng/Li-Wie Tan (Taipei) 6-1, 7-6(2); Vladimir Polyakov/Colin van Beem (1) bt Paramveer Singh Bajwa/Anurag Ne 6-4, 6-4.