Tata Open Maharashtra: Bhambri and Ramanathan start with victories in qualifiers

India’s Yuki Bhambri and Ramkumar Ramanathan began their campaign at the Tata Open Maharashtra by registering victories in contrasting fashion in the opening rounds of the singles qualifiers here on Saturday. Bhambri notched up a one-sided 6-2, 6-2 win over Diego Hidalgo while Chennai’s Ramanathan, a wildcard entrant, came from behind to win 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 against Otto Virtanen. Won from While three other Indians Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Siddharth Rawat and Aditya Balsekar had to face defeat in their matches.

Gunneswaran went down 6-7, 6-3, 5-7 to Maximilian Martner while Rawat was defeated by Jadene Kolar 6-1, 6-7, 6-1. Flavio Coboli defeated Balsekar 6-3, 6-0. In other first-round matches, last year’s semi-finalist Elias Ymer progressed to the next round after his opponent Miljan Jekic retired. Mattia Bellucci defeated Vladislav Orlov 6-4, 6-4 and Nikola Milojevic defeated Nicolas David Lonell 6-3, 6-2. The second and final round matches of the qualifiers will be played on Sunday. The main draw matches will be played from January 2 to 7.