Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Sriram Balaji toil ahead

Bengaluru: The top two seeds Prajnesh Gunneswaran and N Sriram Balaji had their work cut out against lively oppositions, but pulled through to the last-16 after the first round of men’s singles ties at the $15,000  F5 ITF Futures tennis tournament hosted by the KSLTA Stadium on Tuesday.

Davis Cup player Prajnesh ousted German Pirmin Haenle 6-3, 7-6 (1) in an effervescent morning tie on centre court. The southpaw ran amok in the first set, leading 4-0 before being pegged back slightly. He closed out the set with a blistering forehand to put the ball back in the German’s court, and Haenle responded.

The players then held serve and traded strokes until the tie-breaker, where 342-ranked Prajnesh took full advantage to once again beat the man he had dismantled earlier in the month at ITF Chattisgarh.

Second seed Balaji had a tougher outing against Tamil Nadu compatriot V.M Ranjeet but justified his seeding to win 7-6 (2), 7-5. Balaji broke Ranjeet in the fourth game of the first set and raced to a 5-2 lead. The 876-ranked Ranjeet showed tremendous grit to haul himself back, using slices, drop shots and forehand passes aplenty.

A tie-break ensued and Balaji used his booming serve to clinch the first set. The second set transpired in a similir vein, but with Balaji taking his game to his opponent and playing shorter points; a tactic which worked a treat.

On Court 3, third seed Vishnu Vardhan packed off Jayesh Pungliya 6-4, 6-1 to ensure no upsets on Day 2.

Results: Singles: Siddarth Vishwakarma bt Jui Chen Hung 6-3, 6-2;  G. Prajnesh bt Pirmin Haenle 6-3, 7-6 (1); Vishnu Vardhan bt Jayesh Pungliya 6-4, 6-1; Hadin Bawa bt Dalbir Singh 6-3, 6-3; Sami Reinwein bt Vijayant Malik 6-1, 6-1; Suraj Prabodh bt Kunal Anand 6-2, 6-4; Dakshineshwar Suresh bt Sivadeep Kosaraju 6-3, 6-0; N. Sriram Balaji bt V.M Ranjeet 7-6 (2), 7-5; Paramveer Singh Bajwa bt Tejas Chaukular 6-4, 2-6, 7-5.