Tata open Maharashtra: Ramkumar pips Bopanna in doubles

Pune, January 3

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Ramkumar Ramanathan squandered chances in the deciding set while Sasikumar Mukund went down fighting in his match as India’s singles challenge ended in the first round at the Tata Open Maharashtra here today.

Coming into the main draw from the qualifying route, Ramkumar lost 3-6 7-5 6-3 to Spanish world No. 62 Pedro Martinez in two hours and 28 minutes.

Mukund, who got a wild card entry as the country’s best-ranked player at No. 340, matched Flavio Cobolli stroke for stroke from the baseline but his Italian opponent got the points when it mattered by raising his game and won 6-4 7-5 in one hour and 38 minutes.

Ramkumar, though, won his Round of 16 doubles match with Miguel Angel Reys-Varela from Mexico. They beat Rohan Bopanna and his Dutch partner Botic Van De Zandschulp 7-6(5) 6-7(4) 11-9 in an edge-of-the-seat thriller.

In an all-Indian affair, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Sriram Balaji, who came in as an alternate team, beat wild card entrants Purav Raja and Divij Sharan 6-4 6-3. Also making an exit was the Indian team of Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni, who lost 7-6(1) 5-7 7-10 to the third-seeded French pair of Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul.

In the other singles matches of the day, Dutch player Tim van Rijthoven knocked out Moldova’s Radu Albot 6-4 6-4, while the eighth seed Russian Aslan Karatsev made short work of Pablo Andujar 6-1 6-3.