Bhupathi dropped three match points but walked through with plenty to spare against sixth seed Eyal Ryan 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 15 minutes.

Fazalludin was leading 6-3, 5-7, 2-1 when his opponent and "very good friend" Prahlad Srinath had to withdraw due to a painful Achilles tendon. The match was particularly difficult for Fazalludin as he was aware of his opponent's injury and "knew what he had to do to win the match". But he did not exactly do that, dropping the second set after winning the first.

Srinath took a three-minute medical break at 4-3 up in the second set. The break seemed to have worked for him as he broke serve in the 12th game to level scores.

But the magic spray did not work too long and he was forced to pull out.

Earlier, Japan's Kentaro Masudaaffected a clinical 6-0, 6-3 55-minute finishing of second seed Razwan Sabau of Romania. With the Romanian's exit, the top two seeds are out of the tournament on the second day itself, top seed David Caldwell having been eliminated yesterday.

BHUPATHI BLAST: Bhupathi served four aces, all of them at crucial moments of the match, to notch his third win against the man from Israel. Up 5-4 by a fifth-game break, Bhupathi went down 0-40 and three break points. Then he decided to change things a bit.

His effort included a backhand pass, followed by a serve and volley set piece, and an overhead smash. Ace, ace. Set. Ryan recovered quickly to go up 3-0. But Bhupathi brought things on level terms -- one break each -- in the fifth.

Up 5-4, Bhupathi had two match points, two chances to break serve. Though Ryan saved those, and another in the next game with a backhand pass, Bhupathi was not to be denied. Strong serve and smash. Game, set and match.

RESULTS

Men's singles: Syed Fazalludin (India,563) bt Prahlad Srinath (India, 390) 6-3, 5-7, 2-1 conceded; Kentaro Masuda (Japan, 353) bt Razwan Sabau (Romania, 193) 6-0, 6-3; Mashiska Washington (USA, qualifier) bt Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia, 293) 6-2, 7-5; Ofer Sela (Israel, 284) bt Miles MacLagan (GBR, 303) 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5); Julian Boutter (France, 279) bt Oleg Ogorodov (Uzbek, 214) 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6); Anthony Dupuis (France, 206) bt Olivier Malcor (France, 247) 6-1, 1-0 conceded; Sebastien Dechaunac (France, qualifier) bt Naom Behr (Israel, 244) 6-1, 6-4; Mahesh Bhupathi (India) bt Eyal Ryan (Israel, 229) 6-4, 6-4.

Doubles (1st round): Kentaro Masuda/Oren Motevassel bt Harsh Mankad/Mustafa Ghouse 6-3, 6-3; Lior Mor/Ofer Sela bt Gregory Carraz/R Lavergne 7-6 (7-4), 6-4; Nitin/Sandeep Kirtane bt Naom Okun/Nir Welgreen 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 6-4.