National grasscourt tennis: Vijayaraghavan stuns eighth seed

Wild Card entrant Ashwin Vijayaraghavan upset eighth seed Lakshit Sood of Uttar Pradesh in a close 7-6(5), 6-3 battle in round one of the men's singles at the National Grass Court Tennis Championship here Monday.

In a gruelling 215-minute battle at the grass courts of the Calcutta South Club, Andhra Pradesh youngster Vijayaraghavan pocketed the first set in a tie-breaker and pulled back after falling behind 1-3 in the second to win five games at a stretch and close the tie.

Third seed Tamil Nadu's Vishnu Vardhan had to stretch himself in overcoming a spirited opening set resistance from his unseeded statemate Mohammed Fariz on way to a 7-6(4), 6-4 victory.

In women's singles first round, third seed Andhra Pradesh competitor Nidhi Chilumula made short work of her Uttar Pradesh rival Sanya Madan 6-2 6-3 while sixth seeded C. Sai Samitha of Tamil Nadu humbled Madhya Pradesh's Anjali Thakur 6-3 6-2.

Fourth seed Karnataka girl Sharmada Balu sped past veteran Maharashtra rival Sonal Phadke 6-2 6-1 to move into the second round.

Match score:

Men's Singles Main Draw Round 1

Shaikh Abdullah (AP) bt Sagar Ahuja (MAH) 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-4

Ashwin Vijayragavan (AP) bt Lakshit Sood (UP)(8) 7-6(5), 6-3

Vishnu Vardhan (TN)(3) bt Mohammad Fariz (TN) 7-6(4), 6-4

Women's Singles Main Draw Round 1

Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy (AP) bt M Arthi (TN) 6-4, 6-1

Nithyaraj Baburaj (TN)(8) bt Kanishka Chawla 6-2, 6-1

Sharmada Balu (KAR)(4) bt Sonal Phadke (MAH) 6-2, 6-1

Namita Bal (MAH) bt Varunya Chandrasekhar (KAR) 1-4,retd

Nidhi Chilumula (AP)(3) bt Sanya Madan (UP) 6-2, 6-3

C Sai Samitha (TN)(6) bt Anjali Thakur (MP) 6-3, 6-2

Shalaka Uddur Manjunath (KAR) bt Amala Amol Warrick (KAR) 7-6(3), 6-1