On the inaugural day of the second Walchand Cup National Series U-16 Tennis Championship being conducted by Deccan Gymkhana, 32 first round matches were completed.

While most of the top eight seeds went through fairly easily, it was only seventh seed Manish Kumar of Punjab who struggled against Rushab Ranawat of Maharashtra. In a long-drawn match, which lasted 100 minutes, it was the Punjab boy’s superior ground strokes and fitness which finally saw him through 6-3, 6-1. The match, which was punctuated by some hard hitting, thrilled the spectators on monday.

In other first round boys matches Arjun Khade, the top seed, demolished Aashan Ghoghri 6-1, 6-1. The match was expected to be closed but the rustiness in Ghogri’s game came through right from the beginning. Ghogri is a talented left hander from Mumbai, but has spent most of his year studying for his board exams. Arjun on the other hand has had a fantastic run this year and will definitely be the favourite for the title.Second seed Vinod Gowda, third seed Tushal Thawani and fourth seed Shaikh Abdulla cantered into the second round without breaking into sweat.

Two minor upsets were recorded with talented youngster from Punjab, Hrishab Dev ( tenth seed) went down to Nischay Raval of Chandigad. After a close first set, Dev threw in the towel in the second set and went down tamely 7-5, 6-0.

Mumbai lad Dhir Gala provided the other upset of the day beating Jagdip Singh of Punjab 7-5, 6-0.