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India No. 1 tennis ace Yuki Bhambri put up a brilliant performance to qualify for the main draw of the Fever Tree Championships, earlier known as the Queen’s Club Championships in London on Sunday. The fifth seeded Bhambri upset the third seeded Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-2 in just 1 hour 10 minutes in the final round of qualifying to secure his berth in the main draw of this ATP 500 tournament, which is one of the prestigious warm-up events for the Wimbledon Championships.
The 25-year-old had well-balanced statistics on his service and returns. He won 63% of his total service points and 51% of his total return points. The 84th ranked Indian made in-roads into the 67th ranked American’s serve five times out of the nine opportunities that he got.
In the first round of the main draw, he will face the former Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic, who will be arriving at the British tournament fresh from a runner-up finish at Stuttgart.
Bhambri had begun his grasscourt season with a solid performance at the Surbiton Challenger, where he made it to the quarter-finals. However, he failed to replicate that form at the Libema Open, an ATP 250 event, the very next week.
The former junior Australian Open champion has rebounded from that first round defeat to shine at Queen’s.
Thombare triumphs
India’s Prarthana Thombare and Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum teamed up to score a huge upset in the final of the Fuzion 100 Manchester Trophy, an $100,000 ITF Women’s Circuit event. The Indo-Thai combine shocked the top seeds Naomi Broady and Asia Muhammad 7-6(5), 6-3 to win the title on Sunday.
Gunneswaran gives walkover after win
At the Fuzion 100 Ilkley Trophy, an ATP Challenger event in Great Britain, third seeded Prajnesh Gunneswaran won his first round match in qualifying, beating Dennis Novikov 6-4, 6-2. But the Indian gave a walkover to Japan’s Hiroki Moriya in the next round.
It has been learnt that the World No. 169 developed a strain and felt it wiser to opt out with Wimbledon in sight.
