Consistently good serving was the key to the straight sets success of third-seed Isamail Temur of Uzbekistan over his fellow countryman Shofayziyev Shonigmatjon in the first round of the $10,000 ITF Futures presented as the 20th Tep Khunnah Memorial at the National Training Center yesterday.

The Tashkent-born 20-year-old Temur, ranked 444 in the world, held on to 90 per cent of his service games to complete a 7-5,6-3 win in about an hour and a half.

The 22-year old Shonigmatjon blasted 10 aces to his rival’s seven but his record was not so sparkling when it came to the points won on his second serve.

Fourth seeded Cheong Eui-kim of South Korea also moved up with ease, sidelining the lucky loser from the qualifying rounds, Moritani Sochiro of Japan, 6-3, 6-3.

In a clash between two players from Chinese Taipei, Kuan Yi Lee outplayed Cheng-Yu Yu 6-4, 6-2 in 91 minutes.

In a surprise of sorts, two Korean players retired from the contest after losing their first sets.

While Jae Hwan-kim decided to call it a day after falling behind 2-6 to fellow Korean Seong Kwan-kim, Vietnam’s Hoang Nam Ly was handed a passage to the second round after his Korean opponent Dong Whee Choi ended the match after he was outshone in the first set 6-1.