Thaindian News

Kolkata, Feb 6 (IANS) Fifth-seeded local boy Saurav Sakul marched into the second round with a straight set decimation of Maharashtra’s Saurabh Patil in the inaugural match of the Indian Jute National Grass Court Tennis Championships here Monday.

In a one-sided opening round match, the Bengal player showed blazing confidence as he chalked out a 6-2, 6-1 victory at the famous greens of the Calcutta South Club.

Sakul broke his lower-ranked opponent in the fifth and seventh games of the opening set and kept up the momentum to pocket the second set and match in style.

Sakul, ranked 16th nationally, fired some lovely aces while Patil struggled with his first serve.

“I was high on confidence. I was playing really freely, went off to a good start and finished it well and easily with not much of trouble,” Shukul said after the tie.

In another round one fixture, 21-year-old promising Chhattisgarh boy Abhijeet Tiwari showed veteran Vinod Sridhar the door defeating him 6-4, 6-2. Tiwari is ranked 26th nationally, two rungs above Tamil Nadu’s Sridhar.

Delhi’s Adit Jain also romped to the pre-quarter finals by carving out a facile straight set 6-1, 6-1 win over Amlesh Kumar of Bihar.