Japanese taisei ichikawa

Sai Karteek Reddy Ganta: Manish Sureshkumar on Wednesday stunned top seed Vladyslav Orlov in the first round of the ITF Kalaburagi Open at the Chandrashekhar Patil Stadium.

The 24-year-old played some amazing shots and took the first set 6-3 and was leading 2-0 before his Ukrainian rival threw in the towel citing a shoulder injury, which seemed more out of frustration than in pain.

In the second set, the Indian broke his opponent’s serve in the very first game and pocketed the second after which Orlov quit the match. “It’s a great start beating the top seed. I knew his game as we have played before. I grew in confidence during the first few games. My aim was to keep the ball in the court and I managed to do it,” said Manish.