Tata Open Maharashtra: India’s Ramkumar enters doubles quarter-finals, defeats compatriot Rohan Bopanna

The
Indo-Mexican
duo
put
up
a
brilliant
performance
against
the
strong
opposition
team
consisting
of
the
two-time
champion
Indian
tennis
ace
Bopanna.

The
exciting
contest
saw
tough
competition
from
both
ends
as
the
two
sets,
too,
were
decided
into
the
tie-breakers
before
Ramkumar
and
Reyes-Varela
managed
to
tilt
the
result
in
their
favour
at
the
end
of
the
final
tie-breaker.

Ramanathan-Varela
will
face
Ram-Salisbury
in
semis

The
duo
will
now
face
the
three-time
Grand
Slam
champions
Rajeev
Ram
and
Joe
Salisbury,
who
overcame
the
challenge
from
Sebastian
Baez-Luis
David
Martinez
6-3,
7-6
(1)
in
their
opening
encounter.

Ramkumar
goes
down
fighting
in
singles

It
was
a
mixed
day
for
Ramkumar,
who
went
down
fighting
6-3,
5-7,
3-6
against
the
World
No.
62
Pedro
Martinez
in
a
thrilling
singles
opening-round
contest
earlier
in
the
day.

Another
Indian
pair
of
N.
Sriram
Balaji
and
Jeevan
Nedunchezhiyan,
also
made
it
to
the
Round-of-8
after
defeating
Purav
Raja
and
Divij
Sharan
6-4,
6-3
in
an
all-Indian
clash.

Bhambri
&
Myneni
lose

Meanwhile,
Yuki
Bhambri
and
Saketh
Myneni
went
down
fighting
against
the
French
pair
of
Sadio
Doumbia
and
Fabien
Reboul
7-6
(1),
5-7,
7-10.

The
ongoing
edition
of
South
Asia’s
only
ATP
250
event,
which
is
being
conducted
by
the
Maharashtra
State
Lawn
Tennis
Association
(MSLTA)
in
association
with
the
Government
of
Maharashtra
for
the
fifth
year
in
Pune.

World
No.
17
Marin
Cilic,
who
received
bye
in
the
first
round
of
singles,
will
be
in
action
on
Wednesday
as
he
begins
his
campaign
against
Roberto
Carballes
Baena.

India’s
challenge
in
singles
ends

Earlier
in
the
day,
India’s
challenge
came
to
an
end
in
the
singles
after
Mukund
Sasikumar
suffered
a
hard-fought
defeat
in
the
Round-of-32
matches.
He
lost
to
Flavio
Cobolli
4-6,
5-7.

Other
Indian
singles
players,
Sumit
Nagal
and
Manas
Dhamne
made
exits
on
Monday
(January
2).

In
the
other
singles
match,
the
No.
8
seed
Aslan
Karatsev
made
a
winning
start
to
his
campaign
as
he
thrashed
Pablo
Andujar
6-1
6-3.
Tim
van
Rijthoven
and
Maximilian
Marterer
also
progressed
into
the
second
round.

The
prestigious
tournament,
owned
by
IMG
and
managed
by
RISE
Worldwide,
is
sponsored
by
Tata
Motors.

The
tournament
will
go
on
till
January
7.

Where
to
watch:
(Main
Draw)
Sports18
–
1
SD,
Sports18
–
1
HD
and
JioCinema.