Coming again Yuki Bhambri impressed together with his aggressive web play in a straight-sets win however Ramkumar Ramanathan’s twenty third try to succeed in a singles primary draw of a Grand Slam ended with a first-round loss on the Australian Open qualifiers right here on Tuesday. .
Bhambri, who returned to the Grand Slam stage after the 2018 US Open, defeated Portugal’s 248th-ranked Joao Dominguez 6-4, 6-2 in simply 68 minutes.
The 29-year-old Indian was trying good and performed cleverly whereas charging on the nets to maintain the factors low.
However, the marketing campaign of Ramkumar and Ankita Raina ended within the first spherical itself.
Ramkumar fought for his coronary heart earlier than defeating Italy’s Gian Marco Moroni 3-6 5-7 within the first spherical. Moroni got here out with an enormous serve and outright winners.
In girls’s singles, Ankita, ranked 203, was overwhelmed 6-1, 6-0 by Ukraine’s Lesia Surenko, ranked 120, in simply 50 minutes on her birthday.
Yuki Bhambri in motion. (specific file picture)
The 29-year-old credited the loss in his bout with COVID-19 earlier than reaching Australia.
Ankita instructed PTI, “I have neither taken a racket nor have any training in the last 14-16 days.”
She mentioned her preparations have been being hampered as she needed to be in quarantine in India earlier than she may take off and she or he may solely have one session after reaching Melbourne on January 8.
Bhambri initially struggled to rein in his unforced errors, however earned his first breakpoint within the third sport with a forehand winner after a protracted rally. Domigues gave the Indian the primary break of the match by a double fault.
Bhambri took an ace within the subsequent sport to take a 3-1 lead as Dominguez additionally tried to seize the web, however Bhambri’s highly effective stroke pushed him again.
Bhambri acquired two break factors on his serve within the sixth sport. On deuce he pulled off a full backhand slice after which despatched off a half volley for a 4-2 lead.
After getting one other break resulting from unforced errors from his opponent, Bhambri got here on to serve for the set, however missed the serve when he was smashed overhead.
He was not able to play that shot, however went for it, anticipating that Loeb would land close to the alley behind him.
The Indian claimed the set when he served once more.
In the second set additionally Bhambri acquired the primary break and took a 4-2 lead. After this he served the match with none ruckus.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran had gained his first spherical on Monday.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
