New Delhi, July 30: It was a day of mixed luck for Indian tennis as Prakash Amritraj and Harsh Mankad recorded encouraging singles victories while Rohan Bopanna bowed out with a first round loss at various tournaments in the US. Amritraj, playing as a wild card at the $380,000 ATP tour international event in Los Angeles, won his first round match yesterday after his opponent sixth seed Marat Safin retired midway citing a wrist injury, according to information received here.
Amritraj was leading 5-3 in the first set when the maverick Russian threw in the towel.
Amritraj next faces Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark in the second round, and a win there could pit him against former world number one Lleyton Hewitt. At Denver today, number one Indian player Bopanna went down to Jonathan Erlich of Israel 4-6 4-6 in the first round of the $25,000 Challenger Event.
In the bottom half of the same event, Mankad scored a hard fought 4-6 6-3 7-5 victory over another Israeli Amir Hadad to progress to the second round.
Bopanna, however, tasted success in the doubles when he, pairing Aisam-ul-Haq Quereshi of Pakistan, advanced to the quarters after beating American wild card pair of Mark Dietrich and Ogidi Obi 6-4 6-3. Mankad, partnered by Arvind Parmar of Great Britain, is slated to play Venezuelan duo Kepler Orellana and Jose de Armas in the first round.
The mixed results could shake up the ranking positions of the three Indians on the ATP computer. Amritraj zoomed past Mankad on 364th position to be placed at 351 beginning this week. Bopanna was ranked 321. Bureau Report