Mankad falls at first hurdle

India Davis Cupper Harsh Mankad was unable to maintain his fine form and crashed out in the first round of the $10,000 Canada F2 Satellite, being played at Montreal, Canada.

Harsh, who won the Canada F1 at Mississauga last week, and was seeded eight, lost to unseeded Mario Ancic of Crotia 1-6, 2-6.

Last week, Harsh had defeated Ancic 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the semi-final of the F1 event.

The other two Indians in the draw also lost their first round matches. Mustafa Ghouse lost to Doug Root of United States 3-6, 6-3, 3-6 and Manoj Mahadevan lost to Simon Shen of United States 5-7, 3-6.

In the doubles, Mustafa Ghouse and Rishi Sridhar, who were seeded fourth, lost to the Australian pair of Domenic Marafiote and Matthew Yates 3-6, 4-6 in the first round. The other Indian in the fray Vikrant Chadha is playing with James Shortall of New Zealand and will be facing second seeds Andrew Nisker of Canada and Tripp Philips of the United States. Harsh is not playing doubles this week.

Meanwhile, Vijay Kannan will face fourth seed Hisham Hemeda of Egypt in the first round of the Leg 2 of the Radobank Dutch Clay Satellite being played at Velp, The Netherlands.

In the doubles, Vijay Kannan, playing with Jalal Chafai of Egypt, will face Melvyn Op Der Heijde of The Netherlands and Keppler Orellana of Venuzuala in the first round.

In the women's Challenger circuit, Shruti Dhawan lost to Petra Kucova of the Czech Republic 0-6, 2-6 in the first round of the $10,000 Challenger in Velp, The Netherlands.

Meanwhile, Rushmi Chakravarti and J Sai Jayalakshmy will face Slovakian pair of Eva Fislova and Stanislava Hrosenska in the first round of the $10,000 Challenger in Gorizia, Italy.

Related reports:
Canada F1 tournament, Mississauga, Canada
Harsh Mankad claims first pro title
Harsh Mankad rallies to make semis
Good going for Indians on international circuit