Fifth seed Ramkumar Ramanathan had to sweat a little before defeating Russia’s Alexander Zhubrin in the first round of the $50,000 KPIT-MSLTA Challenger tournament here on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old, who made his Davis Cup debut against Spain last month, spent an hour and 38 minutes to subdue the Russian 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
Ramkumar will now meet France’s Sadio Doumbia — who had accounted for Sasi Kumar Mukund — in the second round.
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Ramkumar served two aces and executed a fine passing shot in the final game to seal the issue. Zhubrin, with an ATP ranking of 621, fought hard right through the match.
“He’s a left-hander and the ball swings and it’s always tricky. The bounce was pretty good. It’s a fast court. If you can hold your serves, it can be close with anyone.
“In such courts, you should always be focused. It’s just a matter of few points here and there. I was 4-3 on serve in the second set. A couple of mistakes from me and I lost the set.
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“In the third too, a lapse of two or three points from him made me win the match,” said Ramkumar.
Sumit Nagal, one of India’s promising young players, recovered from a 1-4 deficit in the first set to beat Spain’s Marc Giner in straight sets, while Vijay Sundar Prashanth taught a few lessons to wild card competitor Jayesh Pungliya.
Second-seeded Korea’s Duckhee Lee was a clear winner against Frenchman Hugo Nys.
The results (first round):
Men: Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Alexander Zhurbin (Rus) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3; Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (Esp) bt Shalva Dzhanashiya (Rus) 6-2, 6-2; Fabien Reboul (Fra) bt Marat Deviatiarov (Ukr) 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-4; N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Jayesh Punglia 6-2, 6-4; Nikola Milojevic (Srb) bt Sriram Balaji 7-5, 7-6(2); Duckhee Lee (Kor) bt Hugo Nys (Fra) 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-1; Sumit Nagal bt Marc Giner (Esp) 7-5, 6-3; Evgeny Donskoy bt Mohit Mayur 6-4, 6-2; Saketh Myneni bt Danilo Petrovic (Srb) 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(3)
Doubles: Purav Raja & Divij Sharan bt Sadio Doumbia & Fabien Reboul (Fra) 6-4, 7-6(4); Sriram Balaji & Vishnu Vardhan bt Saketh Myneni & Sanam Singh 6-7(2), 6-3, [10-4]; Dmitry Popko (Kaz) & Marat Deviatiraov (Ukr) bt Anirudh Chandrasekar & P. Vignesh 7-5, 6-4; Nikola Milojevic & Danilo Petrovic (Srb) bt Marc Giner (Esp) & Alexander Zhubrin (Rus) 6-7(4), 6-4, [10-4]; Mohit Mayur & Kaza Vinayak Sharma bt Tejas Chaukulkar & Jayesh Pungliya 6-2, 6-4; Jeevan Neduncheziyan & Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam & V.M. Ranjeet 6-0, 6-4; Luca Margaroli (Sui) & Hugo Nys (Fra) bt John Paul Fruttero (USA) & Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (Esp) 7-5, 7-5.