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Unseeded Indian Sanam Singh caused the biggest upset of the AirAsia Open, $50,000 Challenger tournament accounting for tournament 8th seed Germain Gigounon of Belgium in straight sets 6-4, 6-0 at the KSLTA Courts on Tuesday.

The World No 279 was on a roll against his World 220 ranked opponent slamming in five aces en-route to the second round of the singles play.

The second set took all of 20 minutes as the Indian cashed in on all the three breakpoints he enjoyed to shut out the Belgian.

Indian ace Davis Cupper Somdev DevVarman overcame small hiccups mid-way through the first set to move into the second round with a straight sets victory against Austrian Maximillian Neuchrist, winning 6-4, 6-3.

Somdev claimed a break in the sixth game of the first set when on his second break point his opponent returned long.

But the joy was short lived for the tournament fourth seed who was broken back the very next game to set the set going on serves.

However, Somdev, the World No. 181 bided his time to break the Belgian in the 10th game to claim the first set.

In the second set Somdev stayed with his serve while breaking his opponent in the sixth game to clinch the tie.

Having not enjoyed the best of years on the circuit, Somdev said, “It has been a tough year. I have been working hard and have been staying fit. I have had a lot of close contests and have lost more than I have won this year”.

When asked whether he felt there was a problem with his game, Somdev said, “I have won two Challenger events this year. In the past I have won one. The level of tennis is there. I have struggled to get past the first round in most of the events. I take time to settle down and when I am in the quarters or semis, I begin playing well. Now that I have gone past the first round here, I hope things fall in place and I get going”.

Another Indian Saketh Myneni, fresh from defending his Challenger title in Vietnam, surged to a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Serbia’s Nikola Milojevic to take his place in the second round.

Tournament second seed James Ward (GBR) hardly raised a sweat demolishing Lucky Loser, Lakshit Sood of India with an identical 6-1, 6-1 score.

Sumit Nagal, the 2015 Jr Wimbledon doubles title winner, given a wild card here, coasted past country mate, qualifier Sidarth Rawat 6-4, 6-3.

In doubles competition, the third seed pair of Dane Propoggia (Aus) and Ti Chen (Tpe) along with Spanish fourth seeds Adrian Menendez-Maceiras and Gerard Granollers moved into the quarter-finals with comfortable victories.