Prajnesh remains lone Indian in fray at B’luru Open

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Prajnesh Gunneswaran emerged as the only Indian to manage a win in the singles main draw of the Bengaluru Open as Ramkumar Ramanathan and Arjun Kadhe made first-round exits, along with two other home players on Tuesday.

The left-handed Gunneswaran, who returned aggressively, beat French player Mathias Bourgue 7-6(4), 6-2 in the opening round of the $53,120 ATP Challenger tournament.

However, Ramkumar, who won the doubles trophy in Pune last week with Rohan Bopanna, squandered a one-set advantage to lose 6-3, 0-6, 5-7 to Australia’s Max Purcell in his opening round.

In the doubles, the Indian pair of Yuki Bhambri and Divij Sharan moved to the quarterfinals after the Turkish team of Altug Celikbilek and Cem Ilkel retired midway into the contest.

Results:

Singles (Round of 32)

Gabriel Decamps (BRA) bt Federico Gaio (ITA) 6-3, 6-3; 5-Altug Celikbilek (TUR) bt Alt-Arjun Kadhe (IND) 6-1, 6-2; Q-Borna Gojo (CRO) bt Q- Rio Noguchi (JPN) 3-6, 6-1, 6-2; Alexandre Muller (FRA) bt 2-Stefano Travaglia (ITA) 6-1, 7-6 (2); 1-Jiri Vesely (CZE) bt Q-Antoine Bellier (SUI) 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-2; Cem Ilkel (TUR) bt LL-Steven Diez (CAN) 6-2, 6-3; Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND) Mathias Bourgue (FRA) bt 7-6 (4), 6-2; Dimitar Kuzmanov (BUL) bt WC-SD Prajwal Dev (IND) 6-2, 6-2; Evgeny Donskoy (RUS) bt Q-Malek Jaziri (TUN) 7-6 (10), 6-4; 6-Enzo Couacaud (FRA) bt WC-Rishi Reddy (IND) 6-1, 6-3; Max Purcell (AUS) bt Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) 3-6, 6-0, 7-5.

Doubles Round-1

WC-Yuki Bhambri (IND)/Divij Sharan (IND) bt Altug Celikbilek (TUR)/ Cem Ilkel (TUR) 3-1 (Retd); Jay Clarke (GBR)/Marc Polmans (AUS) bt Arjun Kadhe (IND) / Chun-hsin Tseng (TPE) 2-6, 6-4, 10-7; 2-Alexander Erler (AUT)/Vit Kopriva (CZE) bt WC-Adil Kalyanpur (IND)/ Mukund Sasikumar (IND) 6-4, 7-5.