Pune, February 24 India's top-ranked star, Sumit Nagal, delivered a dominant performance, while local teenager, Manas Dhamne, showed nerves of steel to lead the country's charge at the Maha Open ATP Challenger 75 men's tennis championship here on Tuesday.
Nagal thrilled a lively home crowd with a clinical 6-1, 6-2 victory over seventh seed, Rio Noguchi of Japan, securing victory in an hour and 9 minutes, dictating play from the baseline and sealing the contest in straight sets.
The India No.1 looked sharp in all departments, breaking serve consistently to advance comfortably into the second round.
Dhamne, who secured a place in the main draw through a wildcard, continued his impressive progress on the Challenger circuit, battling past the winner of last week's Delhi Challenger, Stefanos Sakellaridis of Greece, 6-4, 7-6(4).
The Pune teen, ranked 489, displayed maturity beyond his years, holding his nerve in a tight second-set tiebreak to earn a memorable win over the 220-ranked, 21-year-old Greek.
Elsewhere, eighth seed, Edas Butvilas of Lithuania, gave a lesson in tennis, outclassing local Indian wildcard, Aditya Balsekar, 6-0, 6-1.
Meanwhile, Indian entrant, Karan Singh, went down to qualifier, Maks Kasnikowski, 6-3, 6-1.
The third seed, Ilia Simakin of Russia, edged past qualifier, Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong of Malaysia, winning 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(10) in a closely fought encounter lasting 2 hours and 24 minutes.
Sixth seed, Federico Cina from Italy, registered a dominant 6-1, 6-0 win over Japanese qualifier, Takuya Kumasaka.
Britain's Felix Gill staged a remarkable comeback to defeat Belgian, Michael Geerts, 1-6, 7-6(9), 6-4, and fifth seed, Frederico Ferreira Silva of Portugal, moved into the next round with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Petr Bar Biryukov.
Qualifier, Tung-Lin Wu of Chinese Taipei, continued his good run, accounting for lucky loser, Alexander Binda of Italy, 6-1, 6-2.
In the second round on Wednesday, Dhamne will take on former world no. 40, Illya Ivashka.
