India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan failed to follow in the footsteps of his compatriot Saketh Myneni and crashed out in the first round of the US Open qualifying at the Flushing Meadows in New York on Wednesday. The 21-year-old went down 5-7, 1-6 to the 212th ranked Alessandro Giannessi of Italy in 1 hour 16 minutes.
The young Indian was broken four times in this contest three of which were in the second set where Ramanathan could not produce any resistance at all. The World No. 202 finished with a tally of 54 points to Giannessi’s 72.
Earlier on Tuesday, World No.115 Myneni beat the 166th ranked Frenchman Albano Olivetti 6-3, 7-5 in the first round. His second round match against the World No.191 American Mitchell Krueger is scheduled on Thursday.
The Asian Games gold medallist needs to win a total of three rounds to secure a berth in the main draw competition which starts on Monday, August 29.
Mirza, Paes cruise in pre-US Open warm-up events
Meanwhile, top Indian tennis players – Sania Mirza and Leander Paes – started their campaigns at their respective final warm-up events before the US Open on a winning note. Mirza, who just last week captured the Cincinnati title, continued her winning streak at the Connecticut Open in New Haven on Wednesday.
The World No. 1 is playing alongside Romania’s Monica Niculescu this week and the second seeds began with a comfortable 6-0, 6-3 win over the American wildcard team of Louisa Chirico and Alison Riske. Their match lasted just 52 minutes.
The Indo-Romanian pair converted four out of their 11 break points on offer and did not get broken even once.
Up next for them is the Australian-Croatian pair of Anastasia Rodionova and Darija Jurak.
Over in ATP Winston-Salem in North Carolina, Paes entered the quarter-finals, partnering Germany’s Andre Begemann. The Indo-German duo beat the Australian-Brazilian combine of Chris Guccione and Andre Sa, 6-4, 6-4.
Begemann and Paes won three break points to clinch the win in 1 hour 5 minutes. They have a tough task up next as they face the top seeds Nenad Zimonjic and Lukasz Kubot.
