Bengaluru, Sept 27: Former Asian Games medallist Vishnu Vardhan, on a comeback trail, crossed the first hurdle when he went past Anurag Kumar Saran in straight sets at the PBI-CSE Tennis Academy conducted Rs 1-lakh AITA Mens Tennis Tournament here on Monday.

The 34-year-old from Telangana, who won a bronze medal in m'n's doubles at the 2010 Asain Games in Guangzhou, China, is seeded No.5 for the event and breezed past the Odisha youngster 6-1, 6-0 in a m'n's singles first-round match at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) on Monday.

Top seed Rishi Reddy of Karantaka brushed aside the challenge of Rishi Jalota 6-0, 6-1 to advance to the pre-quarterfinals. Another Karnataka player Mandeep Reddy went down fighting against third seed Yash Yadav of Madhya Pradesh 6-0, 5-7, 6-3.

Results:
Men's singles (round-1): 1-Rishi Reddy (KA) bt Rishi Jalota (UP) 6-0, 6-1; 4-Dheeraj Kodancha (TN) bt Shimon Shastri (MH) 7-6 (4), 6-0; Deepak A (KA) bt 8-Arnav A Pathange (KA) 6-4, 6-4; Rishiraj Shekawat (RJ) bt Dharmil Shah (GJ) 1-6, 7-5, 6-1; Kabir Hans (OD) bt Jatin Kurdekar (KA) 6-1, 6-2; 5-Vishnu Vardhan (TS) bt Anurag Kumar Saran (OD) 6-1, 6-0; Vivek Gautam (KA) bt Akarsh Vinayak (KA) 6-4, 6-3; 3-Yash Yadav (MP) bt Mandeep Reddy (KA) 6-0, 5-7, 6-3; Daksh Agarwal (MH) bt Tharun Vikram (TN) 6-0, 6-2; Neel S Garud (MP) bt Raj Jitendra Bagdai (TS) 6-0, 6-2.

--IANS

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