By Jilawatan

It was a mixed day for the Indians at Vancouver as Prakash Amritraj crashed out of the $175,000 Oldum Brown VanOpen at the hands of former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis rather tamely in straight sets 6-4, 6-1. Keeping the Indian flag flying high is top seed Sania Mirza, who was made to work hard by American qualifier Mallory Cecil before prevailing 6-4, 7-5.

Baghdatis, on the comeback trail, raced to a 3-1 lead in the opening set, and coasted through the rest of it to wrap it up 6-4. He then broke Amritraj in the Indian’s opening service game in the second, to pull ahead 2-0. Amritraj held serve just once more in the match as the Cypriot closed out the tie with relative ease.

Amritraj’s defeat ends the challenge of the Indian men at Vancouver after all three Indians involved in the men’s doubles crashed out on Tuesday. Amritaj and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi were soundly beaten, as were Stephen Amritraj and Harsh Mankad, playing with their respective partners

Local lad Vancouver’s Philip Bester advanced to the third round with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 upset win over fifth seed Ryan Sweeting of the United States. Also entering round 3 is Ukranian Sergei Bubka who beat eighth-seed Marinko Matosevic 7-5, 3-6, 7-6.

In some delayed first round action, Ste-Foy, Quebec’s Pierre-Ludovic Duclos upended sixth-seed Kevin Anderson 6-3, 4-6, 4-6 while Thornhill, Ontario’s Peter Polansky fell 7-5, 6-2 to Xavier Malisse.

Sania Mirza’s opponent in the second round of the Women’s draw is two-time former VanOpen runner-up American Laura Granville. The veteran came through a tight three-setter against Aiko Nakamura when her opponent retired midway through the final set after falling and spraining her knee.

Joining them in the second round are five Canadians, led by Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino who thrilled the hometown crowd with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over American Lindsay Lee-Waters under the lights on stadium court.