None of the remaining three Indians, including Rohan Bopanna, could make the main singles draw of the Aircel Chennai Open as all of them suffered defeats in the second round of the qualifying event, here today.
It means that India’s representation in the men’s singles will be restricted to Somdev Devvarman and wild card entrants Yuki Bhambri and Vishnu Vardhan.
Big serving Bopanna fought hard before losing 6—7(2) 6—7(2) to Japan’s Go Soeda while Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash lost his second round clash 3—6 2—6 to Canadian Vasek Pospisil.
Talented left—hander Prajnesh Gunneswaran also fought valiantly before losing to experienced American campaigner Rajeev Ram 6—3, 7—6 (3).
In a highly competitive affair, World No 120 Soeda broke Bopanna in the third game of the first set while Bopanna broke Soeda in the sixth game of the same set.
The match went into a tie—breaker in both the sets with the players level with six games each.
However, Bopanna could not make it count when it mattered and gave away both the tie—breakers tamely.
Soeda will now meet Edouard Roger—Vasselin in the final qualifying round after the Frenchman beat Dusan Lajevic today.
The next round will also see Yuchi Sugita (Japan) meet Rik De Voest (South Africa), Izak Van Der Merwe (South Africa) meet Dutch star Thiemo De Bakker and Pospisil meet Ram.
Results: G Soeda (JPN) bt R Bopanna (IND) 7—6(2), 7—6(2); R De Voest (RSA) bt T Huey (PHI) 6—3, 6—4; T de Bakker (NED) bt J Cabal (COL) 6—1, 6—3; I Van der Merwe (RSA) bt I Cervantes—Huegun(ESP) 6—4, 7—5;E Roger—Vasselin (FRA) bt D Lajovic (SRB) 7—6(1), 6—2; V Pospisil (CAN) bt M Jayaprakash (IND) 6—3, 6—2; Y Sugita (JPN) bt J Sousa (POR) 6—4, 6—1; R Ram (USA) bt P Gunneswaran (IND) 6—3, 7—6(3).
