Rohan Bopanna in action against Danai Udomchoke in Chennai on Sunday. (PTI)

Chennai: Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna rallied splendidly to beat top seed Danai Udomchoke (Thailand) and keep Indian hopes alive, while Harsh Mankad and Somdev Dev Varman crashed out in the second round of qualifying in the ATP Chennai Open here on Sunday.

It was sweet revenge for Bopanna, who settled scores for his first round loss to Udomchoke in the 2003 Challenger in New Delhi. He overcame the Thai 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in 103 minutes.

In his match against Michael Kohlmann of Germany, Mankad showed signs of making it to the final round, but frequent cramps during the third set put paid to his aspirations as he lost 6-3, 5-7, 4-6.

Somdev went down fighting to Michael Berrer (Germany) 3-6, 7-5, 3-6.

In the main draw, Leander Paes and Martin Damm will take on Ashley Fisher and Justin Gimelstob on Monday.

Bopanna has the best chance of making it to the main draw as he will take on little-known American of Indian origin, Rajeev Ram, in the final qualifying round to be played on Monday.

Bopanna was surprised by the highly-ranked Thai (162) in the fifth game of the first set, but the Indian broke back to level the scores 3-3 and 4-4. Udomchoke was aggressive in the next game and Bopanna also failed to raise his game after 0-30 and then double faulted to lose (4-5).

Udomchoke maintained the momentum to win the first set. Bopanna depended more on his powerful forehands in the second set and displayed tenacity to overcome tight situations, mainly owing to frequent double faults.

The Davis Cupper rattled the Thai with superbly executed aces in the third, fifth and seventh games and maintained the pressure. It was clear that Udomchoke, the second-ranked Thailand player behind Paradorn Srichaphan, would lose the second set. Bopanna settled into a fine rhythm on his ground strokes and wrapped up the set with a break in the tenth game.

In the long drawn second game of the decider, the Thai saved three break points to hold his serve. But he could not stop Bopanna for long as the latter went on to lead 4-1 with a break in the fourth game.

Leading 5-2, the Indian progressed to the final round, breaking Udomchoke in the eighth game to pocket the match. (PTI)