R. Ramkumar remains the lone Indian in fray to clinch a spot in the main draw after winning his second round qualifying match against Mikhail Elgin of Russia 6-3, 7-5. The 19-year-old from Tamil Nadu will now play Slovakia’s Norbert Gombos, ranked 197 in the world, in the last round to be held on Monday.
“I didn’t come out thinking about a win,” said Ramkumar after his match. “I just played freely. I am happy about the result and want to play well tomorrow too. I will just enjoy the match, try my best and see what happens.”
The only other Indian to have won a round in the qualifying, Sanam Singh, fell during the day, losing to Denmark’s Frederick Nielsen 7-5, 7-5.
The results (Qualifying, second round): R. Ramkumar bt Mikhail Elgin (Rus) 6-3, 7-5; Henri Laaksonen (Sui) bt Go Soeda (Jpn) 7-5, 6-4; Norbert Gombos (Svk) bt Dusan Lajovic (Srb) 2-6, 6-1, 6-4; Philipp Oswald (Aut) bt Rajeev Ram (USA) 6-1, 3-6, 7-5; Illya Marchenko (Ukr) bt Alessandro Giannessi (Ita) 6-3, 6-4; Radu Albot (Mda) bt Ze Zhang (Chn) 7-6(2), 6-3; Alexander Kudryavtsev (Rus) bt Karen Khachanov (Rus) 7-6 (9), 6-3; Frederick Nielsen (Den) bt Sanam Singh 7-5, 7-5.
