Yuki Bhambri’s sagging spirits got a boost as he and Mahesh Bhupathi beat Chandril Sood and Lakshit Sood 4-6, 6-1, [10-2] in the first round of the $50,000 ATP Challenger tennis tournament at the R.K. Khanna Stadium here on Tuesday. After having suffered a first-round defeat in the singles to Belgian Joris de Loore, the doubles victory was Bhambri’s first of the season.
Coming off an elbow injury, Bhambri had crashed out in his openers at the Australian Open, a Tour event in Bulgaria and the Challenger tournament last week in Italy. The rust was evident here too as the top seed mishit several balls and squandered numerous chances during his singles opener against the World No.312, who prevailed 6-4, 7-6(4).
The poor stroking continued to plague Bhambri in the doubles too, but with the 41-year-old Bhupathi shrugging off his own indifferent form, the duo overwhelmed the Sood brothers.
However, the multiple Grand Slam champion, who has competed in five Olympics, was stubborn in refusing to talk to the television networks that had assembled, saying that he had merely won a first-round match in a Challenger, and had nothing to say.
Bhupathi made the second round at the Australian Open with Gilles Muller, and made semifinals at both the Bangkok Challenger with Purav Raja and the Tour event at Montpelier with Jonathan Marray, after starting the season with a first-round defeat at the Chennai Open with Muller.
Among the Indians, only Vishnu Vardhan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran progressed to the second round of the singles, beating compatriots Adil Kalyanpur and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan respectively.
Sriram Balaji did play a vibrant first set before going down to seventh seed Bai Yan of China.
The results: First round: Joris de Loore (Bel) bt Yuki Bhambri 6-4, 7-6(4); Flavio Cipolla (Ita) bt Niels Desein (Bel) 6-4, 1-6, 6-1; Jimmy Wang (Tpe) bt Vijay Sundar Prashanth 6-2, 6-2; Ti Chen (Tpe) bt Scot Griekspoor (Ned) 7-6(5), 6-3; Benjamin Mitchell (Aus) bt Kento Takeuchi (Jpn) 4-1 retired: Dmitry Popko (Kaz) bt Takuto Niki (Jpn) 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3; Zhang Ze (Chn) bt Roberto Marcora (Ita) 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-1; Vishnu Vardhan bt Adil Kalyanpur 6-1, 6-1; Matthew Barton (Aus) bt Sam Barry (Irl) 6-3, 6-2; Bai Yan (Chn) bt Sriram Balaji 7-6(4), 6-3; Prajnesh Gunnneswaran bt Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 6-4, 6-4; Maxime Janvier (Fra) bt Francesco Vilardo (Ita) 6-1, 6-4; Kimmer Coppejans (Bel) bt Lee Duckhee (Kor) 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Bhambri & Mahesh Bhupathi bt Chandril Sood & Lakshit Sood 4-6, 6-1, [10-2]; Yannick Mertens (Bel) & Stephane Robert (Fra) bt Bai Yan & Li Zhe (Chn) 6-3, 5-7, [15-13].
