Fazaluddin registers shock win

Indian Davis Cupper Syed Fazaluddin stormed into the second round of the $10,000 Bangkok University Open ITF men's futures tennis tournament, in Muang Thong Thani, Thailand, on Monday.

The Indian, unseeded at the event, won a three-set thriller against third seeded Rik de Voest of South Africa 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in his first round match.

Fazaluddin, who is ranked 607 on the ATP listing, will face Ravel Klaasen, another South African, in the second round. Klaasen, the world No 543, defeated wildcard Pracharapol Khamsaman of Thailand 6-3, 6-4 in the first round.

Syed had withdrawn from last week's Pattaya futures.

Wildcard entrant Indian doubles specialist, Mahesh Bhupathi will face another wildcard Supanya Apaiphun of Thailand in his first round.

Another Indian in the main draw, qualifier Rohan Bopanna will take on Coenie van Wyk of South Africa in the first round, while top seed Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan will open his campaign against Taiwanese Lu Yen-Hsun.

Rohan was the top seed in the qualifiers and made into the main draw without much hardwork, as both his opponenets retired during the matches.

In the first round, Bopanna beat Rik Tukensteen of the Netherland 6-3, 1-0 (retd.) and in the second, he defeated the 15th seed Wei-Jen Cheng of Taiwan 6-2 (retd.).

Mustafa Ghouse was the third seed in the qualifier, but fell in the second round to the 11th seed Henry Pramono of Indonesia 4-6, 6-3, 4-6 after beating Yasutomo Nakase of Japan 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-3 in the first.

Ninth seed Shivang Mishra won the first round over Ata Khatib of Great Britain 1-6, 6-1, 7-5 only to lose the second round to seventh seed Jeremy Berman of the United States 4-6, 2-6.

In the doubles, third seed Syed Fazaluddin and Dmitryi Tomashevic of Uzbekistan will face Thai wildcards Suparat Chukwan and Ekkarin Pisuth-Arnonth in the first round, while Rohan Bopanna and Mustafa Ghouse play the fourth seeds Lior Dahan of Isreal and Conie van Wyk of South Africa in the first round.

In the other first round singles matches, second seeded Dmitryi Tomashevic of Uzbekistan thrashed Phoemphon Attabut of Thailand 6-1, 6-0 while fourth seeded Benjamin Cassaigne of France defated Johan du Randt of South Africa 6-4, 6-4. Indonesian Febi Widhiyanto defeated compatriot Yusmawan Fahmi 6-3, 6-3.

Last week's winner Luke Bourgeois of Australia will face qualifier Tai Tsuchiya of Japan. Bourgeois had defeated Dong-Hyung Kim of Korea 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the final.

Related reports from Pattaya F1 futures:
Bhupathi goes down in quarter-final
Bhupathi in quarters
Bhupathi makes winning singles return