Vishal Punna stole the spotlight as he stunned second-seeded Vivek Shokeen in the singles second round match of the $10,000 SAIL ITF Men’s Futures tennis tournament at the CLTA stadium here on Wednesday.
Davis Cupper Shokeen was outwitted by Punna, who rallied to register a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 upset win in a 114-minute contest which saw both players exchange powerful serves.
Top-seeded Karan Rastogi blew hot and cold before overcoming stiff resistance from unseeded Sanam Singh in three sets. Rastogi won 6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-1 in two hours and 24 minutes.
Meanwhile, third-seeded Sunil Kumar Sipaeya maintained his winning streak as he defeated qualifier Sharifi Dilshod of Tajkistan 6-1, 6-1.
Title favourite Prakash Amritraj had to toil hard against unseeded and never-say-die Vishnu Vardhan before emerging a 6-4, 6-4 victor.
In another second round match, Purav Raja beat sixth seed Navdeep Singh 7-5, 4-6, 7-5.
Results (second round, prefix denotes seeding): 1-Karan Rastogi (Ind) bt Sanam Singh (Ind) 6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-1; Purav Raja (Ind) bt 6-Navdeep Singh (Ind) 7-5, 4-6, 7-5; 4-Vijay Kannan (Ind) bt Stephen Amritraj (Ind) 6-4, 6-4; Tushar Liberhan (Ind) bt Robert Searle (Britain) 6-1, 6-4; Prakash Amritraj (Ind) bt Vishnu Vardhan (Ind) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; 3-Sunil Kumar Sipaeya (Ind) bt Dilshod Sharifi (Tjk) 6-1, 6-1; Vishal Punna (Ind) bt 2-Vivek Shokeen (Ind) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; 7-Aditya Madkekar (Ind) bt Vinod Sridhar (Ind) 6-4, 6-3.