Indian players had mixed fortunes on the opening day of the ATP Challenger in Dharwad, Karnataka, on Wednesday, with wild-card Vishal Uppal upsetting Tumkur leg finalist Lee Childs of Great Britain and Harsh Mankad losing to Michal Mertinak.
Uppal beat Childs 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-6(1) while Mankad lost 6-7(8), 4-6 to the second-seeded Slovak.
Top seed Danai Udamchoke of Thailand struggled against qualifer Leonardo Azzaro of Italy before prevailing 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(1).
Tumkur Challenger champion Phillipp Kohlschrelber of Germany rallied splendidly after losing the first set to get the better of Stephane Bohli of Switzerland 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.
In other first round matches, third seed Teu Tzuoo Wang of Taipei beat Michael Lammer of Switzerland 6-4, 6-2; seventh seed Guillermo Garcia Lopez of Spain downed Oliver Marach of Austria 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 and Kenataro Masuda of Japan beat Sekac Branislav of Slovakia 6-1, 1-6, 7-6(5).
