Wildcard Ashutosh Singh stunned eighth seed Alexandre Kudryavtsev of Russia in a gruelling three-setter to keep Indian hopes alive after Prakash Amritraj and Harsh Mankad bowed out following straight-set losses in the ATP Challenger Series in New Delhi on Tuesday.
On a day when the more fancied Amritraj cut a sorry figure, going down 3-6, 3-6 to seventh seed American Brendon Evans, Ashutosh turned out to be the unlikely Indian star, beating his ill-tempered opponent 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (6).
Mankad, another wildcard, could not emulate Ashutosh's success and bowed out, losing 6-7 (5), 4-6 to Frenchman Thomas Oger.
Ashutosh, the reigning National champion, came through after a few anxious moments, including missing a couple of match points in the second set besides surviving two match points in the decider, in the close to three-hour battle.
Ashutosh managed to get on his opponent's nerves by simply refusing to throw in the towel.
He broke his rival in the sixth game of the first set before closing it 6-3.
The second set went on serve and as both of them waited for the other to blink, the frustration began to show in the Russian's game.
Kudryavtsev's temper flared up to an extent that he threw his racquet out of the court, inviting a rebuke from the chair umpire.
The Russian started questioning almost every close line call that went against him, resorting to amusing gestures and even hitting a ball boy while trying to smash a ball out of the court to vent his anger.
Nevertheless, he won the second set after Ashutosh frittered away a couple of match points to make it 1-1 and keep his chances alive in the match.
The third set followed a similar script, but this time it was the Russian's turn to miss out on two match points, while Ashutosh clinched the match in another tense tie-breaker.
Davis Cupper Amritraj, however, surrendered rather timidly to Evans.
The US-based Amritraj double-faulted to hand Evans a break in the sixth game of the opening set and the eighth seed made full use of the opportunity to go 1-0 up.
Amritraj's net approach left a lot to be desired and he committed too many volley errors that ultimately cost him the match.
The Indian was broken twice in the second set before Evans ended the agony with a brilliant double-handed backhand winner.
Rohan Bopanna had pulled out of the singles with a knee injury.
