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ITF Futures: Gajjar shocks 5th seed Melzer

March 15, 2011 18:02 IST

Unseeded Rohan Gajjar of India caused the first upset in the CCI-ITF US$15,000 men's Futures tennis tournament when he stunned fifth seed Gerald Melzer of Austria in the first round at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Gajjar, ranked 539 in the ATP rankings, overcame the 432-ranked Melzer 6-2, 6-2 in an hour to set up a second round clash with qualifier and compatriot Divij Sharan.

Unseeded Kittiphong Wachiramanowong of Thailand caused the second upset when he  beat No. 8 seed Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan of India 6-3, 6-1 in another first round tie.

The other Indians to join Gajjar in the second round are Davis Cup members -- top seed Karan Rastogi and sixth seed Yuki Bhambri, Ashutosh Singh and Sunil Kumar Sipaeya.

Rastogi tamed wild card and Pune lad Arjun Khade 6-1, 6-1; Bhambri beat qualifier Kenny Bun of Cambodia 6-1, 6-1; Ashutosh beat Alexander Satschko of Germany 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 and Sipaeya beat compatriot and qualifier Abhijeet Tiwari 6-4, 7-5.

Among the Indians crashing out in the first round were qualifiers Vignesh Peranamallur and Vivek Shokeen and unseeded Vijayant Malik.

Nicolas Reissig of Austria beat Peranamallur 6-4, 6-2, unseeded Gero Kretschmer of Germany beat Vivek Shokeen 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 and Jaan-Frederik Brunken of Germany beat Malik 7-5, 6-4.