On a day when he rose to his career-best ranking of 199, rising Indian star Ramkumar Ramanathan bowed out of the French Open in the first round of qualifying. But Saketh Myneni made sure that Indian players would not return empty-handed on Monday as he made a successful return from injury to advance to the second round of qualifying.
Myneni, seeded 28th, did not have it easy, though, against the 225th ranked Duckhee Lee of Korea. A shoulder injury had kept him out of the Tour for more than two weeks and he needed time to adjust to the Roland Garros clay.
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Lee broke him twice in the opening set to grab it 6-1. But the Indian, placed 100 places above the Korean, was more patient in the second set and it eventually headed to a tie-break. Myneni’s calm approach paid off as he levelled the contest by pocketing the set 7-6(3).
Experience trumped youth in the decider as the 28-year-old Indian made in-roads into his opponent’s serve to grab the 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 win.
He next faces the talented 18-year-old Frances Tiafoe who too needed three sets for his first round victory. The match is scheduled on Wednesday.
Ramkumar was ahead by a break in second set
21-year-old Ramkumar Ramanathan had been in impressive form coming into this tournament, having reached the semi-finals of the Samarkhand Challenger. But he failed to capitalize on it as he slumped to a 3-6, 3-6 defeat to the lower-ranked Matthew Barton.
Even though Ramkumar was ahead by a break in the second set, the Australian made a strong comeback to break him twice and take the win.
