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        Birthday boy David Nalbandian not having an extended bash on court and Karan Rastogi setting a second round appointment with the only favourite left in fray (Rafael Nadal) were the significant moments of an action-wrapped second day in the Chennai Open ATP tournament here yesterday.

        Well past midnight, Paradorn Srichapan had to be awake a little longer in the court to smother the challenge of Italian Simone Bolelli. The evening was smooth for Carlos Moya to set proceedings at Centre Court. At the outside, the little made German Bjorn Phau was all fire in the quick mopping up act against the French baseliner Oliver Patience.

        Rastogi's act made up for the non-show of the other Indians. Blessing it must have been to have had a crack at the one ranked 106 for the Indian, way behind touching the 500-figure mark. What mattered was the application and the self belief which carried the Indian through a tough opener. Brazilian Thiago Alves, finishing just outside the top 100 last year, relied more on his top spin drives to push Rastogi behind looking for the half openings at the net. Rastogi's forte was in the baseline duels, happy to engage Alves for the best part.

        Prompted and egged by his faithful supporters (a handful), Rastogi slowly picked momentum once the first set was his. He should have closed out the contest, up 4-1 in the second but momentarily slipped only to get back from where he had started.

        Undid by the returns

        In the post-match briefing, Nalbandian acceded that the precision returns of Kristian Pless was the decisive factor. 'Had been carrying the tendinitis injury in my left leg but would credit to my opponent. Had visions of a straight-set win but the way Pless got into my serves swung the other way.'

        Going bonkers at the most important win of his career after a year-long absence due to injury, Pless said, 'I hung around before hitting steam. The other factor was in my good percentage of servies hitting the chalk. Down 0-3 in the decider it was tough but got the break just in time.'

        Everything went fine for the Argentine in the first set building an invincible 5-1 lead. The Dane arrested the flow and phase of the contest, homing on the big serves and some neat work at the net, volleying with alacrity.

        Schuttler falters

        Peppered by an early break, German regular Rainer Schuttler got into the groove early, taking on world No. 2 and top seed Rafael Nadal. Turning the tide quickly, the Spaniard did that little to get even and find the break. Once he closed out the set in style, the second was all his, the German succumbing to the reputation more than the chasm of ranking.

        Results: Karan Rastogi bt Thiago Alves (Brazil) 6-3, 6-4; Kristian Pless (Denmark) bt David Nalbandian (Arg) 2-6, 6-3, 7-5; Paradorn Srichaphan (Tha) bt Simone Bolelli (Italy) 7-6 (5), 6-4; Rafael Nadal (Esp) bt Rainer Schuettler (Ger) 6-4, 6-2; Carlos Moya (Esp) bt Alexander Waske (Ger) 7-6 (3), 6-3; Bjorn Phau (Ger) bt Oliver Patience (Fra) 6-4, 6-4; Davide Sanguinetti (Ita) bt Konstantinos Economidis (Gre) 6-4, 6-3; Fabrice Santoro (Fra) bt David Skoch (Cze) 3-0 (conceded); Stefan Koubek (Aut) bt Bartolome Salva-Vidal (Esp) 2-6, 6-3, 7-5; Igor Andreev (Rus) bt Santiago Giraldo (Col) 6-3, 7-6 (2).

        Doubles: Ivo Karlovic-Lovro Zovko (Cro) bt Jeff Coetzee (SA)-Rogier Wassen (Ned) 6-3, 6-4.