Yuki in second qualifying round

India's top junior tennis player Yuki Bhambri entered the second round of singles qualifying event in the USD 400,000 Aircel Chennai Open.

On a day when Prakash Amritraj (ranked 212) advanced with a victory over compatriot Vishnu Vardhan, 17-year-old Bhambri, took little time to settle down before prevailing over compatriot Ranjeet Virali Murugesan 7-5 6-3 on Saturday.

Results of the qualifier:

First round: Prakash Amritraj (India) bt Vishnu Vardhan (India) 7-5 6-3; Yuki Bhambri (India) bt Ranjeet Virali Murugesan (India) 7-5 6-4; Dustin Brown (Jamaica) bt Todd Widom (US) 6-4 6-3; Marsel Ilhan (Turkey) bt Sanam Singh (India) 7-5 3-6 6-2; James Ward (Britain) bt Karan Rastogi (India) 6-2 6-4; Ilya Marchenko (Ukraine) bt Denis Gremelmayr (Germany) 6-4 6-2; Peter Polansky (Canada) bt Rohan Gajjar (India) 6-3 7-6 (8); Lars Poerschke (Germany) bt Paul Capdeville (Chile) 6-4 4-6 6-1; Riccardo Ghedin (Italy) bt Matthias Bachinger (Germany) 6-2 4-2 (retd); Noam Okun (Israel) bt Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (India) 6-2 6-3; Louk Sorensen (Ireland) bt Benjamin Balleret (Montcourt) 6-0 2-6, 6-2; Rik de Voest (South Africa) bt George Bastl (Switzerland) 6-2 7-5; Jan Minra (Czech Republic) bt Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (India) 6-4 6-2; Tatsuma Ito (Japan) bt Alex Bogomolov Jr (US) 7-6 (1) 6-3; Donald Young (US) bt Aisam ul-Haq Qureshi (Pakistan) 6-4 6-4; Tsung-Hua Yang (Taipei) 6-7 7-6 6-4.

Amritraj not present at draw ceremony

Vijay Amritraj was conspicuous by his absence at the draw ceremony of the ATP Chennai Open on Saturday but the organisers dismissed suggestions that the former Davis cup captain was sulking because his son Prakash was denied a wild card entry for the event.

While Amritraj was not available for comments, Organising Committee sources confirmed that "Vijay was told on Friday evening itself not to show up at the stadium during the draw ceremony because it is the prerogative of the Committee."

As the incident raised a few eyebrows, Ravi Krishnan, Managing Director - South Asia, IMG and owners of the tournament, was quick to dismiss speculation that Amritaj, unhappy over his son Prakash, a regular wild card entrant since 2002 to 2009, being denied a wild card entry, chose to skip the function.

"In the past, Vijay was the Chairman of the organising committee and attended the draw ceremony in that capacity.

This year, it is Karti Chidambaram, who is also the vice president of All-India Tennis Association. You can speculate as you wish, but roles have changed," Krishnan told PTI.

"It is the prerogative of the organisers to award wild card. Somdev Devvarman and Rohan Bopanna were selected."

On Boppana getting the wild card ahead of 17-year old Yuki Bambhri, winner of Australian Junior Open and made to qualify for the main draw here, Krishnan said: "There was a lot of discussion about this. Perhaps, the organisers thought that it was fit to honour Bopanna for his Davis Cup performances.