India’s Yuki Bhambri stunned defending champion and sixth seed Gael Monfils in the second round of the Citi Open in Washington on Wednesday.
The World No 200 needed three sets to get past the tricky Frenchman who is ranked 178 places above him, but got the job done 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 after an hour and 51 minutes of play.
Bhambri, who is making his comeback from a knee injury, had clinched a place in the tournament’s main draw after coming through the qualifiers. He will now play Guido Pella in the pre-quarterfinals.
“[This was] definitely one of the biggest wins of my career. I hung in there and fought my way through. It gives me a lot of confidence going into my next match,” Bhambri said after the match.
Bhambri faced no break points in the first set, and converted one of the two break point opportunities he had on the sixth seed’s serve to lead in the match. In contrast, both players traded breaks in the second set before Monfils mounted a comeback in the match to take the second set after breaking Bhambri for the second time in the set.
The final set, however, once again swung the Indian’s way. As in the first set, Monfils received no opportunity to break Bhambri’s serve even as his own serving let him down yet again in the match. A single break of serve was then enough for Bhambri get the win.
Incidentally, the 25-year-old’s next opponent Pella had ended the run of his compatriot Ramkumar Ramanathan in the tournament, in the first round.
“I’m absolutely going to ask him [Ramanathan] for some advice,” Bhambri went on to add about his preparations to face the Argentinian.
Doubles pairs advance
The Indian-American pairing of Rohan Bopanna and Donald Young won their men’s doubles first-round match in Washington on Wednesday as well. The duo, who have taken a wild card entry into the tournament, beat the Canadian-Pakistani team of Daniel Nestor and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, 6-2, 6-3. In the quarter-finals, Bopanna and Young will face the fourth seeded American team of Bob and Mike Bryan.
In Los Cabos, the Indo-Slovenian team of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Blaz Kavcic beat the all-Mexican team of Hans Hach Verdugo and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela in the first round. It was, however, a tough match for Nedunchezhiyan and Kavcic, who won 7-6(3), 3-6, 11-9. In the quarter-finals, Nedunchezhiyan and Kavcic will play Juan Sebastian Cabal and Treat Huey.
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