MUMBAI: Mario Ancic provided a sneak preview of his bright future to the sparse gathering, as he tamed Igor Kunitsyn of Russia 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the Kingfisher Airlines open tennis event at the CCI courts here on Monday night.

The 22-year-old second seed from Croatia sweated bucketfuls, mainly due to the struggle the sea breeze had in squeezing into the temporary stands tucked away in a corner of the cricket stadium. Yet, he was quite fresh after 81 minutes of play as he wound up the show with three successive aces.

The tall Croat produced some crafty and authoritative stroke-play. As the contest progressed, Ancic slipped into higher gear to overwhelm the Russian who had a huge forehand and a devastating return of serve, but was largely a Challenger-level player.

"It was an easy last week to come back. Today it was a tough match. As you can see, I am completely wet, I am happy to get one more win in tough conditions. I came early and prepared well. You don't get too many cheap points on this court, but I served unbelievably well,'' said Ancic.

Phau cruises

Earlier, Bjorn Phau of Germany proved too hot for Karan Rastogi as he raced to a 6-0, 6-3 victory in 56 minutes in the inaugural match, when the floodlights were just about coming on.

The 19-year-old Indian, who has been on a low after having won a Futures tournament a few months back, struggled to win a handful of points in the first set. In fact, he won only seven points in all in the first set, and only three of them on his serve.

In comparison, the 66th ranked German was firing on all cylinders, whipping delectable backhand winners and added to his opponent's woes when he started serving big in the second set, dropping only one point on his serve. The 26-year-old German even served four successive aces in the third game of the second.

He fired 12 aces in all in the match, and Karan could respond only with a double fault that incidentally saw him face two matchpoints.

"I liked to play here in the evening when it was not very hot. I played well and am confident for my next round," said Phau. He faces qualifier Gouichi Motomura in the pre-quarterfinals.

Under-prepared

Karan had trained hard with coach Nandan Bal, who was assisting him this week, but he clearly looked unprepared for a battle at this level. He was more than a step slow and a pale patch of his original self.

The only time he looked on top of his game was when he held serve at love in the first game of the second set, smacking a forehand winner down the line.

The results:

Singles: James Auckland (GBR) bt Frank Moser (Ger) 6-1, 6-4; Bjorn Phau (Ger) bt Karan Rastogi 6-0, 6-3; Gouichi Motomura (Jpn) bt Jasper Smit (Ned) 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (5); Mario Ancic (Cro) bt Igor Kunitsyn (Rus) 6-3, 6-2; Michael Berrer (Ger) bt Konstantinos Economidis (Gre) 6-1, 7-6(3); Stefano Galvani (Ita) bt Robin Vik (Cze) 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

Doubles: Denis Gremelmayr & Simon Greul (Ger) bt Yen-Hsun Lu (Tpe) & Kristian Pless (Den) 6-4, 1-6, 10-8.

Tuesday's matches:

Centre court:

Christopher Marquis & Akash Wagh v Mario Ancic (Cro) & Mahesh Bhupathi (5 p.m.); Rohan Bopanna v Wesley Moodie (RSA); Juan Martin Del Potro (Arg) v Carlos Moya (Esp).

Court No. 1: Simon Greul (Ger) v Yen-Hsun Lu (Tpe) 4 p.m.; Juan Monaco (Arg) v Stefan Koubek (Aut); Jasper Smit & Martijn Van Haasteren (Ned) v Lukasz Kubot (Pol) & Robin Vik (Cze).

Court No. 2: Denis Gremelmayr (Ger) v Kristian Pless (Den) 4p.m.; Ramon Delgado (Par) v Davide Anguinetti (Ita); Karan Rastogi & Sanam Singh v Rik De Voest (RSA) & Igor Kunitsyn (Rus).

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