1st round wins for Sanam, Balaji, Malik on ITF circuit

New Delhi: Sanam Singh, Vijayant Malik and N Sriram Balaji won their respective singles contests to move to the second round of the Futures events on the ITF circuit.

Playing in a USD 15,000 event Toronto, Sanam beat Korea`s Duck Hee Lee Korea 6-3 6-3 in the first round. He next faces Amercian Evan King. Also scoring a win was Vijayant Malik, who defeated local qualifier Alexandru Pasareanu 6-3 6-0. In the doubles, Sanam and Malik shocked second seeded pair of Daniel Chu and Erik Vhvojka 7-5 6-4 to make the quarterfinals, where they are up against America`s Sekou Banggoura and Eric Quigley. In Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, second seeded N Sriram Balaji thrashed Eric Vehovec of Canada 6-0 6-1. However, former national champion and fifth seed Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan lost to Ecuadore qualifier Sebastian Rivera 6-7 (1) 4-6. But Ranjeet tasted success in doubles as he and Balaji, top seeds, beat Adham Elganainy and Youssef Hossam 6-1 6-2. They next face Tuniusia`s Skander Mansouri and Brazil`s Marlon Oliveira. In, London, Ronnak Manuja lost 2-6 1-7 to British seventh seed Lewis Burton in the first round in his first round. PTI