Siddharth Vishwakarma beats sixth seed Boris Butulija

Former national champion Siddharth Vishwakarma played a robust game to beat the sixth seed Boris Butulija of Serbia 6-3, 7-6(4) in the first round of the $15,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Wednesday.

In an entertaining battle of left-handers, the wiry Siddharth prevailed as he whipped his serve and strokes with a flourish on both the flanks, backed by commendable athleticism.

In the pre-quarterfinals, Siddharth will play qualifier Madhwin Kamath, who beat Rishab Agarwal in three sets.

Olympian Vishnu Vardhan was razor sharp as he served big and hit the ball on the rise to out-gun Adil Kalyanpur 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in a lively contest. Vishnu will next play fourth seed Nitin Sinha.

Qualifier Lakshit Sood edged out eighth seed Ishaque Eqbal 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(4). Another qualifier Chirag Duhan recovered from the brink of defeat to turn the tide against wild card entrant Oges Theyjo.

Karan Singh was in vibrant form as he beat another former national champion Dalwinder Singh in straight sets. He will challenge Manish Sureshkumar in the pre-quarterfinals.

The results: First round: Oliver Crawford (USA) bt Sai Karteek Reddy Ganta 6-4, 6-3; Madhwin Kamath bt Rishab Agarwal 6-3, 2-6, 6-4; Siddharth Vishwakarma bt Boris Butulija (Srb) 6-3, 7-6(4); Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Sarthak Suden 6-1, 6-0; Vishnu Vardhan bt Adil Kalyanpur 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; Ryuki Matsuda bt Bharath Kumaran 6-3, 6-3; Florent Bax (Fra) bt Aryan Shah 6-3, 6-1; Lakshit Sood bt Ishaque Eqbal 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(4); Faisal Qamar bt Rohan Mehra 6-2, 7-6(6); Chirag Duhan bt Oges Theyjo 3-6, 7-5, 6-1; Niki Poonacha bt Yuta Kawahashi (Jpn) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1; Nicholas Bybel (USA) bt Arjun Mahadevan 6-1, 6-2; Karan Singh bt Dalwinder Singh 6-3, 6-3; Manish Sureshkumar bt Aman Dahiya 6-1, 6-3.