New Delhi, Aug 18 - Fourth-seeded Indian Rohan Gajjar, finalist in the last ITF tournament here a month ago, looked rusty and was upstaged in the first round this time around by compatriot N.Vijay Sundar Prashanth, 6-7(5), 4-6, in the $10,000 tournament at the DLTA complex Tuesday.
Gajjar looked listless as he frittered away break opportunities in both the sets. Prashanth, on the other hand, came out with stunning returns of serve and clean passes to mount Gajjar's errors.
Prashanth, who had beaten Gajjar when the two met the only time at the qualifying stage of an ITF tournament in 2007, served well to force a first-set tie-break, which he dominated.
In the second set, Gajjar snatched a break in the seventh game only to drop his serve in the very next. He was again broken in the tenth game and the match was gone.
Sixth-seeded Ranjeeth Virali Murugesan of India recovered from a set loss and a twisted ankle, to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 against Britain's Kyle Brassington.