CLTA, Chandigarh, Sunday, February : Unseeded Kevin Jordi (Switzerland) created the first upset in the singles qualifiers when he stroked out top seed Kenny Bun (Cambodia) in two straight sets 6-2, 7-6(6). Having won the first set easily Kevin Jordi was fully extended by top seed Bun Kenny in the 2nd set which went in Kevin’s favour at 7-6 (6). Second Seed Akash Wagh (IND) got past his Indian rival Ronak Manuja in straight sets 7-6(2), 6-3. The 3rd seed Shien Yin Peng (Taiwan) made short work of Vivek Shokeen (IND) 6-2, 6-4 but Vivek Shokeen still made to the Main Draw as Lucky Loser in place of Main Draw entrant Vijayant Malik (IND), the second seed, who failed to report. Dineshkanthan Thangarajah (SRI) the wild card entrant got the better of 4th seed Biles Bugby (Great Bretain) 7-6(4), 6-2. Miles Bugby and Thangarajah was involved in long rallies in the 1st set before Thangarajah was able to hold sway over his opponent in a tie breaker 7-6(4). Chandril Sood (IND) the 5th seed was made to bite the dust by his Indian compatriot the 12th seed Arun Prakash Rajagopalan (IND) 6-3, 6-2. Jordi Munoz Abreu (Spain) put it across to 6th seed Danilar Duldaev (KGZ) in straight sets to secure a berth in the Main Draw.
The clash between 11th seed Vijay Kannan (IND) and the 7th seed Kunal Anand (IND) was a keenly contested affair, with Vijay Kannan winning the battle in three sets 6-2, 4-6, 6-1. The last match of the day between Matthiew Vierin (Italy) 8th seed and Motoaki Kita (Japan) 14th seed was well contested. Motoaki Kita set up a blistering pace as he wrapped up the first game 3-6. Vierin Matthiew then steadied himself and put it across by winning the second game at 6-4. The 3rd game was an anticlimax with Motoaki Kita going down tamely 6-2.
With the completion of the singles qualifiers 3 Indians, one each from Switzerland Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Spain and Italy made it to the Main Draw, alongwith Vivek Shokeen of India making it as a lucky loser to fill in the spot on account of the withdrawal of 2nd seed Vijayant Malik (IND). The four Wild Card entrants in the Main Draw are Ranjeet Singh; Sidharth Rawat and Abhijeet Tiwari from India and J. Santos Los from Malaysia making a total compliment of 32 players in the Main Draw.
In the Doubles Main Draw there are 16 doubles pairs including 9 from India. Han Hsin Lee and Yin Hsien Peng from Taiwan are top seeded in the doubles main draw with Sam Barry (Ireland) and Miles Bugby from Great Britain seeded second and Arata Onozawa and Kento Takeuchi of Janpan seeded third.
Three Indian players Lakshit Sood and Chandril Sood, Dheeranush Singh Bhatti and Digvijay Singh Naruka and Vijay Kannan and Arun Prakash Rajagopal have been given wild card entries to Doubles main draw.
The Main Draw matches will commence at 10.30 A.M. with top seed Vishnu Vardhan (IND) taking on his fellow countryman Vivek Shokeen on Court No.1. The Doubles matches will be played after the completion of the eight singles matches. Ms. Sheetal Iyer, ITF Supervisor is satisfed with all the arrangements for smooth conduct of the tournament in CLTA.