Sriram Balaji pips Yan Bai in Nanchang Challenger

Sriram Balaji asserted the quality of his singles game, as he pipped Yan Bai of China 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(4) in the first round fo the $54,160 Challenger tennis tournament in China on Monday.

Sasi Kumar Mukund had earlier breezed past Renta Tokuda of Japan before the Japanese retired midway through the second set.

Balaji has been seeded No.1 in doubles with Jamie Cerretani of the US.

The results:

$54,160 Challenger, Nanchang, China
Singles (first round): Sriram Balaji bt Yan Bai (CHN) 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(4); Sasi Kumar Mukund bt Renta Tokuda (JPN) 6-1, 3-1 (retired).

$15,000 ITF men, Cairo, Egypt
Qualifying singles (first round): Mohamad Gomaa (EGY) bt PC Vignesh 6-2, 7-5; Sebastian Brzezinsski (ITA) bt Tarun Anirudh Chilakalapudi 6-3, 6-3.

$15,000 ITF men, Antalya, Turkey
Qualifying singles (first round): Shamael Chaudhry (GBR) bt Rishabdev Raman 6-1, 6-0.

$25,000 ITF women, Andijan, Uzbekistan
Qualifying singles (first round): Sowjanya Bavisetti bt Elina Sharipova (UZB) 6-3, 6-0; Riya Bhatia bt Valeriya Vorobyova (UZB) 6-0, 6-0.

$15,000 ITF women, Cairo, Egypt
Qualifying singles (first round): Ilaria Sposetti bt Shilpi Swarupa Das 6-1, 6-1; Sravya Shivani Chilakalapudi bt Niditra Rajmohan 6-2, 6-2; Saumya Vig bt Maria Charl (EGY) 6-4, 6-3.

(Courtesy: The Hindu)