NEW DELHI, October 5 (www.dsclopentennis.com) - Left-handed Kedar Tembe scored a straight sets victory over fourth-seeded Ajay Ramaswamy in the men's singles first round to steal the limelight on the second day of the 13th DSCL Open National Tennis Championship at the DLTA Complex here today.

On a day when Aqeel Khan, the top seed from Pakistan, was not stretched by Varun Walia, Tembe's 7-5, 6-1 verdict was matched only in intensity by Aditya Madkekar's 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory over No. 8 Sanam K Singh in a battle of talented teenagers. Sanam K Singh, 16 was on court barely a few hours after reaching the Capital from Barcelona where he helped India finish eighth in the Junior Davis Cup.

Three-time National Champion Nitin Kirtane, 31, justified the wild card afforded him by the organisers when he outsmarted and outplayed Gurmehar Singh in straight sets to advance to a second round meeting with No. 5 VM Ranjeet. The left-hander drew on his skills and mental strength to secure a good win.

Tembe and Ramaswamy, both from Maharashtra, are familiar with one another's games as they have been slugging it out on the circuit here for some time now.

A couple of years ago, Tembe was swept off his feet by Ajay Ramaswamy in an ITF Futures Tournament here. The left-hander from Pune then beat the Mumbaikar in the ITF Satellite Series here later that year. They have played very often.

Tembe, 23, was seeded third last year and lost in the semifinals to the teenaged wildcard entrant Divij Sharan. Today, he showcased his determination in no uncertain terms as he under

In the women's draw, the top two seeds - Isha Lakhani and Sana Bhambri - did not have to work too hard to secure straight set victories on their way to the second round. It was also nice to see wildcard entrant Radhika Tulpule, coming off an injury, secure a facile win over Niroshita Madanala.

There were two matches that held the attention for being marathons in the humid conditions.

Andhra Pradesh's J Vishnuvardhan battled for nearly three and half hours with Vijayendra Laad (Maharashtra) to rally from a first set loss and win two tie-breaks. Neither player was able to break the other's serve over 21 games after Laad broke back in the third game of the second set.

Earlier, National under-18 champion Ajay Selvaraj (Tamil Nadu) slugged it out for just over two and a half hours before edging out a fighting PC Vigesh (Andhra Pradesh) in the second round of the boys under-18 draw. Selvaraj, drenched in sweat and cramping, ran out winner in the third set tie break

Delhi's Honey Rana, a wildcard entry in the under-18 draw, beat the third-seeded Anshuman Dutta (Assam) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to cause a major flutter. The top two seeds, Bengal's Rupesh Roy - also fresh from Barcelona - and Vivek Shokeen (Delhi) posted straight set victories to advance.

The results:

Men's singles (first round): 1 Aqeel Khan (Pakistan) beat Varun Walia (Uttaranchal) 6-3, 6-3; Mohammed Yasser Arafat (Andhra Pradesh) beat Anjan Viplav (Services) 6-2, 7-5; Saurav Sukul (Bengal) beat Narendran Ranganathan (Services) 6-2, 6-2; 6 Ravishankar Pathanjali (Tamil Nadu) beat Rohan Gide (Maharashtra) 6-3, 6-2; Siddharth Gulati (Delhi) beat Rahil Syed (Karnataka) 6-1, 7-6 (3); Nitin Kirtane (Maharashtra) beat Gurmehar Singh (Delhi) 6-3, 7-5; J Vishnu Vardhan (Andhra Pradesh) beat Vijayendra Laad (Maharastra) 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5); Kedar Tembe (Maharashtra) beat 4 Ajay Ramaswamy (Mahrashtra) 7-5, 6-1; Nomi Qamar (Pakistan) beat Pratim Parekh (Maharashtra) 5-7, 6-4, 6-2; Aditya Madkekar (Maharashtra) beat 8 Sanam K Singh (Chandigarh) 7-6 (5), 6-3.

Women's singles (first round): 1 Isha Lakhani (Maharashtra) beat Vishaka Sheoran (Delhi) 6-3, 6-1; Radhika Tulpule (Maharashtra) beat Niroshita Madanala (Andhra Pradesh) 6-2, 6-2; 8 S Punam Reddy (Andhra Pradesh) beat Oormila Ram (Andhra Pradesh) 7-6 (3), 6-0; Shalini Sahoo (Delhi) beat Pooja Kommireddi (Andhra Pradesh) 6-2, 6-3; Vandana Murali (Tamil Nadu) beat Neha Rana (Delhi) 6-2, 6-1; 6 Parul Goswami (Delhi) beat Sandri Gangotri (Andhra Pradesh) 6-4, 6-1; 4 Archana Venkatraman (Karnataka) beat Pallavi Sharma (Delhi) 6-1, 6-2; Asha Nandakumar (Karnataka) beat Varsha Shivashankar (Karnataka) 3-6, 6-1, 5-2 (latter conceded); 2 Sana Bhambri (Delhi) beat Preeti Subramaniam (Tamil Nadu) 6-3, 6-3.

Boys' under-18 singles (second round): 14 M Hariprasath (Tami Nadu) beat Rahul Belwal (Delhi) 6-4, 6-3; 9 Ajay Selvaraj (Tamil Nadu) beat PC Vignesh (Andhra Pradesh) 6-7 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (5); Krishank Shah (Maharashtra) beat 6 Sumit Prakash Gupta (Uttar Pradesh) 7-5, 6-4; Honey Rana (Delhi) beat 3 Anshuman Dutta (Assam) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5; 15 Alon Moses (Maharashtra) beat A Daniel Raj (Andhra Pradesh) 6-2, 6-2; Rahil Makharia (Maharashtra) beat 11 Krishna Karsolia (Uttar Pradesh) 6-3, 6-4; 7 Prateek Shantaraju (Karnataka) beat Manav Dhawan (Punjab) 6-1, 7-5; 8 Rohan Gide (Maharashtra) beat AS Suresh Krishna (Maharashtra) 7-5, 6-4; Fariz Mohammed (Tamil Nadu) beat 12 Navaneetha Kannan (Tamil Nadu) 6-1, 6-4; 16 Siddharth Gulati (Delhi) beat Manjit Singh (Chandigarh) 6-1, 6-1; 4 Nityesh Natraj (Tamil Nadu) beat Allan Gomes (Gujarat) 6-4, 1-6, 6-1; 5 Tejaswi Rao (Andhra Pradesh) beat Vivek Reddy (Andhra Pradesh) 6-2, 6-4; 10 Peter Agnel Gladwin (Maharashtra) beat RK Praveen (Karnataka) 7-5, 6-1; 13 Vijay Sunder Prashanth (Tamil Nadu) beat Paras Thakar (Chandigarh) 6-0, 6-3; 2 Vivek Shokeen (Delhi) beat Siddharth Alapati (Andhra Pradesh) 6-3, 6-1; First round: 1 Rupesh Roy (Bengal) beat LS Anantha Bhaskar (Tamil Nadu) 6-1, 6-3