Chun-hsin Tseng seemed to have started his title defence at the Bengaluru Open with some defending champion jitters.
The 21-year-old from Taipei, winner of three ATP Challenger events, was facing a known opponent, Portugal’s Frederico Ferreira Silva, to whom he had lost in their previous meeting.
But the World No. 131 Tseng, who climbed to a career high of 83, held nerve to ward off Silva’s challenge with a 6-4, 6-4 win at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) courts on Monday.
Though the scoreline suggests a straight-forward affair, the two players with a head-to-head record of 1-1, were involved in long rallies, especially in the second set, before Tseng won more at crucial junctions to close out the match.
Tseng managed a lone break in the opener to go 2-1 up, and that was good enough for him to win the first set 6-4.
It was, however, in the second that saw 27-year-old Silva giving a tough time to his opponent.
With both players trading breaks, it was not until the sixth game when Tseng, leading 3-2 after a break in the fifth game, held on after trailing 15-40 to inch ahead 4-2. With Silva losing his composure over a few close line calls that went against him, a calmer Tseng crossed the line in an hour and 48 minutes.
In the other main draw matches of the day, it was mixed fortunes for the Italian duo - fifth-seeded Luca Nardi and sixth-seeded Francesco Maestrelli.
While Nardi scored a 6-4, 6-4 win over Serbia’s Miljan Zekic, Maestrelli became the first seed to be knocked out of the tournament after going down to unseeded Australian Marc Polmans 1-6, 2-6.
Prajnesh in main draw
Earlier in the final qualifying round, India’s Prajnesh Gunneswaran defeated Spain’s Carlos Sanchez Jover in straight sets (6-4, 6-3) to join his compatriots Sumit Nagal and local lad SD Prajwal in the main draw.
However, it was the end of the road for Sasikumar Mukund who went down fighting to Jason Jung Taipei 5-7, 4-6.
Results (main draw, first round): Chun-hsin Tseng (Tpe) bt Frederico Ferreira Silva (Por) 6-4, 6-4; Luca Nardi (Ita) bt Miljan Zekic (Srb) 6-4, 6-4; Marc Polmans (Aus) bt Francesco Maestrelli (Ita) 6-1, 6-2.
(Qualifying, final round): Only Indians: Jason Jung (Tpe) bt Mukund Sasikumar 7-5, 6-4; Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt Carlos Sanchez Jover 6-4, 6-3.