John-Patrick Smith felt right at home Monday night while pulling off an early upset in the $50,000 Knoxville Challenger tennis tournament.

Smith, a sophomore All-American at the University of Tennessee, defeated Prakash Amritraj 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the opening round at UT's Goodfriend Tennis Center.

Amritraj, son of former tennis great Vijay Amritraj, is ranked No. 210 in the world.

"I like the courts here," said Smith, runner-up in the 2008 NCAA tournament. "It's like the backyard after being here a year and a half now, so it's good."

Knoxville's Rhyne Williams, 17, didn't have such a good night.

Williams lost in the first round to Slovenia's Luka Gregorc 7-6 (2), 6-3 and afterward announced his decision to play college tennis next fall.

"Yep, as of now, unless I win five of these in a row," said Williams. He said his top five schools are Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Duke, Illinois and Texas A&M.

The Challenger continues today starting with three singles matches at 11 a.m.

No. 2-seeded Bobby Reynolds, ranked No. 83 in the world, plays tonight at 6 against Michael McClune, while top-seeded Vincent Spadea, ranked No. 77, plays at about 7:30 against Somdev Devvarman.

UT's Smith, who is from Australia, upset sixth-seeded Zack Fleishman in the first round of the main draw in last year's Knoxville Challenger.

"I just seem to play well in this tournament," he said.

After losing the first set Monday, Smith broke Amritraj's serve for a 4-2 lead in the second set and broke again for a 2-0 lead in the third. Amritraj didn't have a break point on Smith in the second or third sets.

"My serve was just clicking," Smith said. "Once it clicks, I play really good, my ground strokes and volleys. If I serve well, it's usually a good day at the office."

It was anything but for Amritraj, 25, whose father was ranked No. 16 in the world in the summer of 1980.

"I wasn't terribly happy with my performance but I give him credit," Amritraj said. "It's good for him to come out in a pro event and get a win."

Williams, who won a Futures pro event in summer 2007, took a 3-0 lead in the first set and served at 5-3 against Gregorc, 24, ranked No. 258 in the world.

After winning the first-set tiebreaker, Gregorc broke early in the second set.

"Truthfully, he served a lot better than I did tonight and on key points I didn't make a lot of serves," Williams said. "That was the difference. I didn't feel like I was in a rhythm with my serve. Hat's off to him. He served really well and returned well when he needed it."

Williams said playing a veteran like Gregorc has its advantages.

"It's definitely tough, but it kind of gives me the advantage because I have nothing to lose," he said. "They're playing for meal money and I'm just playing for fun. I can swing away and have no pressure on me."

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.