Third-seeded N. Sriram Balaji rallied to beat V.M. Ranjeet 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in a first round match of the Vasan Eye Care-ITF Futures tennis championship at the Union Club here on Tuesday.
The first set went on serve till 3-3. Then, Balaji broke in the seventh and ninth games to take the set 6-3.
The second set had an identical beginning, going on serve till 3-3. Unleashing some powerful forehands, Ranjeet broke Balaji in the seventh game, and went on to clinch the set 6-4.
Riding the momentum, Ranjeet raced to a 4-2 lead in the decider.
However, in a little while the contest swung dramatically in favour of the third seed. Balaji, who warded off two breakpoints to hold serve in the seventh game, broke Ranjeet in the next to level at 4-4.
Thereafter, he blitzed through the next two games to pocket the match.
Sweden’s Lucas Renard defeated seventh-seeded Pol Toledo Bague of Spain 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. After losing the opener, Renard had a 4-1 advantage in the second set. But, Bague fought back to make it 4-4.
The Swede, though, had the last laugh as he reeled off consecutive games to claim the set.
In the decider, all Renard required was a solitary break in the seventh game to edge past his opponent.
The results: First round:Singles: Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Sasi Kumar Mukund 6-3, 7-5; Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Jatin Dahiya 6-1, 6-1; Vijayant Malik bt Vijay Kannan 6-3, 6-4; Enrique Lopez-Perez (Esp) bt Ashwin Vijayragavan 6-0, 1-0 (retd.); Kaza Vinayak Sharma bt Nitten Kirrtane 6-2, 7-5; Mathias Bourgue (Fra) bt Sarvar Ikramov (Uzb) 6-2, 6-1; N. Sriram Balaji bt V.M. Ranjeet 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; Lucas Renard (Swe) bt Pol Toldeo Bague (Esp) 2-6, 6-4; 6-3; P.C. Vignesh bt Jannis Liniger (Sui) 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(1).
Doubles: Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash & Akash Wagh bt Sarvar Ikramov & Sergey Shipilov (Uzb) 6-0, 6-1; Arun Prakash Rajagopalan & Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Ronak Manuja & Ashwin Vijayragavan 6-4, 7-6(4); Sagar Ahuja & Chandril Sood bt Mathias Bourgue (Fra) & Andre Gaspar Murta (Por) 6-3, 3-6, 10-4.
