Ashwin beats Sood in National Grass Court tennis championship

Kolkata: Wild card entrant Ashwin Vijayragavan stunned eighth seed Lakshit Sood 7-6(5) 6-3 in the first round of the National Grass Court Tennis Championship at South Club on Monday.

The first set went on serve till it reached the tie breaker, where Vijayragavan was lucky towards the end as he took the set 7-5. In the second, Sood took a quick lead of 3-1 from where Vijayragavan came back and dominated the next five games to wrap up the match in three hours and 35 minutes. Third seed Vishnu Vardhan had a tough time before overcoming unseeded Mohammad Fariz 7-6 (4) 6-4. Results (Round 1): Men`s singles: Shaikh Abdullah (AP) b Sagar Ahuja (MAH) 6-7(7) 6-2 6-4; Ashwin Vijayragavan (AP) b Lakshit Sood (UP) (8) 7-6 (5) 6-3; Vishnu Vardhan (TN) (3) b Mohammad Fariz (TN) 7-6 (4) 6-4. Women`s singles: Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy (AP) b M Arthi (TN) 6-4 6-1; Nithyaraj Baburaj (TN) (8) b Kanishka Chawla 6-2 6-1; Sharmada Balu (KAR) (4) b Sonal Phadke (MAH) 6-2 6-1; Namita Bal (MAH) b Varunya Chandrasekhar (KAR) 1-4 retd; Nidhi Chilumula (AP) (3) b Sanya Madan (UP) 6-2 6-3; C Sai Samitha (TN) (6) b Anjali Thakur (MP) 6-3 6-2; Shalaka Uddur Manjunath (KAR) b Amala Amol Warrick (KAR) 7-6 (3) 6-1.