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In a battle of two of India’s most talented young singles players, third seed Ramkumar Ramanathan edged qualifier Sumit Nagal in a thrilling three-set match to enter the second round of the $75,000+H Shenzhen 2 Challenger in China on Tuesday. Ramanathan needed two hours to subdue the challenge of his 21-year-old compatriot for a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) win and set up a meeting with Egypt’s Mohamed Safwat.
While Ramanathan made a winning start to his campaign, it was curtains down for the other Indian seed in the men’s singles draw. The in-form Prajnesh Gunneswaran seeded fourth at this event, could not produce much resistance against the World No. 259 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and went down 3-6, 4-6 in 1 hour 8 minutes.
This was the 142nd ranked Prajnesh’s third ATP Challenger tournament in as many weeks. He had earlier made it to the final at Ningbo and then followed it up with a semi-final show at the Liuzhou Challenger last week. His exploits understandably took a toll on his body and he could not find enough energy for a fightback.
Qualifier Sasi Kumar Mukund also had a great day, winning his first round in straight sets. The World No. 494 beat the 328th ranked Yibing Wu, the 2017 junior US Open champion, 7-6(4), 6-2. Up next for him is the eighth-seeded Canadian Filip Peliwo.
Winning start for Divij Sharan at Paris Masters
A day after becoming the India No. 1 doubles player, Divij Sharan continues to get good results on the tennis circuit as he and Artem Sitak of New Zealand effortlessly beat the 2016 French Open champions Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez 6-4, 6-3.
Sharan and Sitak were a last-minute replacement for the Russian pair of Daniil Medvedev and Karen Khachanov, who withdrew from the final Masters 1000 tournament of the season on Tuesday. The Indo-Kiwi combine face an uphill task in the second round as the second seeds and reigning Wimbledon and US Open champions Mike Bryan and Jack Sock wait for them.
