Indian challenge ends with Singh's exit

The lone Indian left in fray at the ATP Challenger Series, Ashutosh Singh, on Wednesday, crashed out with a straight-set loss to Australian Colin Ebelthite in the rain-interrupted second round of the USD 50,000 event.

The wildcard local favourite, who stunned eighth seed Alexandre Kudryatsev of Russia in the opening round on Tuesday, was handed a 4-6, 4-6 defeat by Ebelthite.

In a contest interrupted by a duststorm and heavy rain, Ashutosh was done in by backhand errors and the inability to match his opponent's power.

Ebelthite, ranked 234 in the world, more than 300 places above Ashutosh, was never really challenged by the national champion, as he wrapped the first set with ease before heavy rain preceded by a powerful duststrom halted the proceedings for more than two hours.

The grit and determination that Ashutosh showed while beating Kudryatsev was missing in today and once the match restarted, Ebelthite seized control of the proceedings and broke the home favourite once before advancing to the quarterfinals.