Ramkumar goes down

Ramkumar Ramanathan’s aspiration of getting into a Grand Slam was put on hold as he was beaten 6-3, 6-0 by Ze Zhang of China in the pre-quarterfinals of the Asia-Oceania Australian Open wild card play-off tennis tournament here on Thursday.

The Chinese, who was ranked 148 in 2013, had defeated Ramkumar by the same margin in the Bangkok Challenger in 2015.

Ramkumar also lost the doubles quarterfinals, after a bye, in partnership with Arjun Kadhe, 11-13 in the super tie-break against Japan’s Yuki Mochizuki and Sho Shimabukuro.

Sasi Kumar Mukund will play Yunseong Chung of Korea in the quarterfinals on Friday.

The results:

Pre-quarterfinals: Ze Zhang (Chn) bt Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-3, 6-0; Doubles (quarterfinals): Yuki Mochizuki & Sho Shimabukuro (Jpn) bt Arjun Kadhe & Ramkumar 6-3, 3-6, [13-11].