Somdev departs, Prakash advances

Somdev Devvarman made a shocking first round exit from ATP Challenger tennis event, but Prakash Amritraj register a victory.

Somdev lost in straight sets against Sergei Bubka even as Prakash Amritraj made a brilliant comeback to advance to the next level.

It was an intense first round battle between eighth seed Somdev and Bubka which the Ukrainian won 7-6(3) 7-5.

Prakash shrugged off the first set deficit to beat American Ryler Deheart 6-7 (2) 6-3 6-3 in his first round match of the USD 50,000 hard court event.

Now Prakash will lock horns with Bubka in the second round.

In the doubles event, fourth seeds Harsh Mankad and his American partner David Martin advanced to the quarterfinals after a hard-earned win over wild card pair of Laurynas Grigelis and Andrea Stoppini.

Mankad and Martin overcame a first round lapse to beat the Lithuanian-Italian pair 3-6 6-3 10-6 in their first round.

Bhupathi-Knowles in pre-quarters of Montreal Masters

Meanwhile, Mahesh Bhupathi and his partner Mark Knowles advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the ATP Montreal Masters event after getting a bye in the first round.

The Indo-Bahamian pair, seeded third, will now take on Jeff Coetzee of South Africa and Jurgen Melzer of Austria for a place in last-eight.

Cotzee and Melzer defeated Britishpair of Ross Hutchin and Andy Murray 3-6 6-3 10-7 in their first round match of the USD 3,000,000 hard court event.