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. Before that, Balaji had dispatched Egypt’s 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 Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Nedovyesov.
Last year’s runner-up Prajnesh Gunneswaran suffered a 3-6, 3-6 loss by seventh seed Evan King of Great Britain. Also making an early exit was fifth seed Sidharth Rawat and N Vijay Sundar Prashanth. Rawat lost to third seed Antonie Escoffier 2-6, 3-6. Prashanth was ousted 1-6, 2-6 by Borna Gojo in his final qualifying round but made the main draw as Lucky Loser and has been drawn to play local wild card Aryan Goveas.