Gokul, Macherla cause upsets

Gokul Suresh and Theertha Macherla upset seeded rivals in first round action at the USD 3000 RBLATT Asian Ranking men's tennis championships on Wednesday.

Unseeded Gokul outplayed third seed Dharmil Shah 6-4, 6-3 while Macherla ended the challenge of ninth seed Anvit Bendre 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(7) in a match lasting three hours at the MSLTA courts here.

In another close first round match, sixth seed Prithvi Sekhar prevailed over Jayachandran Vimalraj 6-1, 5-7, 6-1.

Results: Men's singles (1st round): Gokul Suresh bt 3-Dharmil Shah 6-4, 6-3; Theertha Macherla bt 9-Anvit Bendre 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(7); 1-Jatin Dahiya bt Nandwal Akash 6-0, 6-0; Bhoopati Sakthivel bt Saumil Sakaria 6-0, 6-1; Ishaque Eqbal bt Drona Walia 6-2, 6-2; Sahil Gaware bt Taha Kapadia 6-4, 6-3; 7- Paramveer Bajwa bt (Q) Aditya Balsekar 6-4, 6-2; 4- Chandril Sood bt Yugal Bansal 6-3, 6-4; 5-Tejas Chaukulkar bt Divesh Gahlot 6-0, 6-1; 6-Prithvi Sekhar bt Jayachandran Vimalraj 6-1, 5-7, 6-1; (WC) Atharva Sharma bt ..