Vardhan made to toil

Top seed Vishnu Vardhan entered the second round of the All India Ranking tennis championship but the India number 4 was made to toil in his 6-4, 7-6 (3) win over qualifier Anvit Bendre at the Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana Club on Tuesday. Vardhan grabbed a decisive break in the ninth game to serve out the first set but Bendre did exceptionally well to keep pace with his fancier opponent in the second which crept into a tie-breaker. However, the man who partnered Leander Paes at the London Olympics last year did manage to elevate his game when it mattered as he raced away from 3-3 to 6-3 in the tie-breaker and sealed the affair on his first match point. Vardhan will next face Mohit Mayur on Thursday in what should be another tricky contest for the 25-year-old judging by Mayur's 6-0, 6-1 demolition of Yuvraj Chaudhary. Meanwhile, seventh seed Shahbaaz Khan suffered an agonizing blow when at 6-2, 3-1 up against Bruhad Mankad, he was forced to retire from the match due to a knee-injury.

Results: 1-Vishnu Vardhan bt Anvit Bendre 6-4, 7-6 (3); Mohit Mayur bt Yuvraj Chaudhary 6-0, 6-1; Tushar Mandlekar bt Saurabh Patil 6-2 retired; Bruhad Mankad bt Shahbaaz Khan 2-6, 1-3 retired; Rakshay Thakkar bt Abdullah Shaikh 7-5, 7-6 (3); Pratim Parekh bt Tejas Chaukulkar 6-0, 6-1; Ajai Selvaraj bt Vivek Shokeen 6-2, 6-3; 3-Rohan Gide bt Siddhesh Khade 6-1, 6-4; 5-P.C. Vignesh bt Sandeep Choudhary 6-1, 6-2; 2- Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Sagar Manjanna 6-4, 6-3

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