Forgetting the home woes, there was also a Irish qualifier's success story. With a ATP ranking as remote as 1244, Scot Barren upset second seed and 334th ranked Lee Martin of USA 6-2, 6-2. But there is more to Barren than eyes can meet. A knee injury forced him a six month lay-off and Barren who was then ranked 340th has pushed down the ATP ladder. But with today display it seemed he has started the upward trot.

India's biggest disappointment of the day was Syed Fazaluddin, who had gained direct entry to the main draw. Fazaluddin lost to Kratochvil 5-7, 1-6. For Vijay Kannan and Harsh Mankad it was the case of lacking the final sucker punch. Theyhad their rivals on ropes quite a few times, but choked when the crunch came. Though Mankad won just three games against third seed Boris Borgula but the match saw a number of deuces which more often than not the Indian lost. Mankad lost 2-6, 1-6.

The fourth seed Prahlad Srinath faced compatriot wild card entrant Vinod Sridhar in his first round. The rankings, the seedings or the form all predicted a open and shut case. But Sridhar's opening statement was impressive and that stretched the issue a bit. But some late manoeuvres helped Srinath survive the scare and take the set at 7-5. The second set saw Srinath getting a hang of things as he took the set at 6-1.

Nitin Kirtane seems to be developing a knack of first getting into the grave and then clawing out. As was the case in the final qualifying round, he won the first set comfortably lost the second and then again won the decider easily.

Results: Joseph Robichaud (Canada) bt Hernych (Czech Republic) 5-7, 6-1, 6-4; Amir Hadad (Israel) bt RuebAndrew (USA) 6-4, 6-2; Jonathan Erlich (Israel) bt Allegro Yves (Switzerland) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4; Martin Hormec (Slovakia) bt Golovanov (Russia) 6-3, 6-4; Densi Udomchoke (Thailand) bt Lubon Pampoulov (Austria) 6-4, 6-4; Scot Barren (Ireland) bt Martin Lee (USA) 6-2, 6-2; Simon Larose (Canada) bt Ram Andy (Israel) 6-3, 2-0 (retired); Aisam Qureshi (Pakistan) bt Andrew Serra (Italy) 6-1, 6-0; Kascak Filip (Slovakia) bt Luke Milligan (Great Britain) 6-3, 6-3; Messori Filippo (Italy) bt Josef Nesticky 5-7, 6-1, 6-2; Michel Kratochvil (Switzerland) bt Syed Fazaluddin (India) 7-6, 6-1; Boris Borgula (Slovakia) bt Harsh Mankad (India) 6-2, 6-1; Patrick Erhardt bt Cedric Kauffmann (France) 6-1, 6-0; Prahlad Srinath (India) bt Vinod Sridhar (India) 6-4, 6-1; Nitin Kirtane (India) bt Vishal Uppal (India) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3; Simon Aspelin (Sweden) bt Vijay Kannan (India) 6-4, 7-5.