Jonas Bjorkman beat Karan Rastogi 6-4, 6-0

Chennai: The big guns were forced to dig deep into their ammunition stock on an eventful Tuesday evening at the Chennai Open. More so, second seed Paradorn Srichaphan, who had to pull himself out of the rubble before outgunning Belgian Christophe Rochus.

Outplayed for the better part of two sets, the popular Thai staved off two match-points and then stormed through the decider to win 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.

Second seeds Leander Paes and Nenad Zimonjic raced into the doubles quarter finals late on Tuesday, dismissing French duo Gregory Carraz and Jean-Francois Bachelot 6-4, 6-2.

The energetic Rochus, whose best ever ranking was 65 four years ago, played above himself and took the chances offered by a listless Srichaphan to move into a winning position. But, when it mattered most, Rochus came up short ? first while serving at 5-3 in the second set and when Srichaphan was 5-6, 30-40 down.

By escaping to victory, Srichaphan had saved new coach T.J. Middleton some early embarrassment. The world No. 27 also managed to keep his romance with Chennai going. He has now won 14 out of 16 matches at the Nungambakkam Stadium.

Carlos Moya had a problem or two as well, but of a less severe kind, as he launched his bid to retain the crown with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) verdict against Austrian left-hander Julian Knowle.

The top seed relaxed a tad at the beginning of the second set to trail 0-3. Like a true champion, he upped the tempo against an opponent who was returning really well and broke back in the fifth game. In the tie-break, the Spaniard was super-solid and didn?t give Knowle a whiff of a chance.

As for the Indians, the script remained boringly same, with none living to fight Wednesday?s second-round battles. But Harsh Mankad did come within a whisker of providing a refreshing twist to the tale.

Pitted against eighth seed Kevin Kim on an outside court, the 25-year-old qualifier played a dream second set and led 3-1 in the decider before going down 4-6, 6-4, 4-6.

Wild card Karan Rastogi, the cynosure on centre court, won the first three games of his match against the celebrated Swede Jonas Bjorkman but managed just one more thereafter to lose 4-6, 0-6.

Mankad?s tennis was like a breath of fresh air. With three wins already under his belt, the Davis Cupper looked sharp from the outset. The lightly-built Mankad has now developed a killer flat backhand.

Kim, a Californian of Korean descent, moved up the ranks last year with some strong Challenger results. At world No. 94 almost 300 places higher than Mankad, Kim could well have expected a cakewalk.

As it turned out, Mankad played tennis of thetop-100 level and had Kim in trouble early in each of the sets. The Indian went a break up (4-2) in the first set after winning a long baseline rally.

In the very next game, though, Mankad let Kim break back with a couple of errors on either flank. Another loose service game by the Indian gave Kim the decisive break and he accepted the first set.

It was then that the Indian produced his best tennis and almost turned the match on its head. Capturing Kim?s serve twice in a row with a series of delightful winners and retrievals, Mankad raced to 4-2. There was a hiccup in game 7 but Mankad was in no mood to give in easily. He clinched the set breaking Kim a third time with a trademark backhand winner followed by a delectable drop shot.

The third set was a tense affair. Unfortunately, errors crept into Mankad?s game too as he went for the kill.

Mankad could still have sealed the match had he taken his chances. Up 3-1, he couldn?t hold serve in game 5. He fought off three break-points in game 7, but a futile drop-shot cost him dear in game 9. Kim squandered three match-points but closed it with a big ace.