Pune Challenger: Aryan Goveas gets off to strong start

Wildcard entrant Aryan Goveas claimed a huge win as he beat Germany's Tobias Simon, ranked 480, in the first round of the Pune Challenger on Monday.

Aryan Goveas in action at the Pune Challenger on Monday.

Aryan Goveas, Manish Sureshkumar and Anniruddha Chandrashekar were among the Indians who advanced to the singles second round on the opening day of the KPIT MSLTA Pune Challenger played at the Balewadi Sports Complex, on Monday.

Wildcard entry Goveas claimed the biggest win of the day as the Mumbai lad secured a 6-4, 7-6 (4) win over Germany's Tobias Simon in a tie that lasted an hour and 19 minutes. Twenty-one-year-old Goveas, ranked 867, earned three ATP points for his effort against the superior ranked German (480) and served 11 aces in a fast-paced match on center court.

He went on to save two breakpoints in the seventh game of the second set to bring up his first win in three attempts as a wildcard entrant.

Meanwhile, Sureshkumar got past wildcard Anvit Bendre 6-2, 6-0; while Chandrasekar got the better of Kazakhstan's Timur Khabibulin 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Ukrainian Danylo Kalenichenko came through a close first set to win 7-6 (3), 6-3 against reigning national champion Niki Poonacha to advance into the next round.

As many as 22 Indians are in the main draw of the KPIT MSLTA Challenger, the highest in the history of the Challenger event.

The results (first round)Men singles : Roman Blokhin (RUS) bt Lakshit  Sood (IND) 6-4, 6-2; Calvin Hemery (FRA) bt Bogdan Bobrov (RUS) 6-1, 6-4; Manish Sureshkumar (IND) bt Anvit Bendre (IND) 6-2, 6-0; Danylo Kalenichenko (UKR) bt Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (IND)  7-6 (3), 6-3; Aryan Goveas (IND) bt Tobias Simon (GER) 6-4, 7-6(4); Annirudha Chandrasekar (IND) bt Timur Khabibulin (KAZ) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; Toshide Matsui (JPN) bt Ben Patael (ISR) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; Yusuke Takahashi (JPN) bt Siddarth Vishwakarma (IND) 6-0, 3-6, 6-3; Chandril Sood (IND) bt Dhruv Mulye (USA) 6-1, 6-3. Qualifying round : Tejas Chaukulkar (IND) bt Yash Chaurasia (IND) 6-3,6-4; Dalwinder Singh (IND) bt Suraj Prabodh (IND) 6-4, 6-3.