In the biggest match for Indian tennis on Tuesday, Yuki Bhambri, the country’s only player in the singles main draw at Roland Garros, went down in straight sets against Belgium’s Ruben Bemelmans 4-6, 4-6, 1-6 in the first round.
However, India had a much better start to the campaign in doubles, as Rohan Bopanna and partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin, seeded thirteenth, began with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe .
Away from the Slam, at the ITF USD 25K tournament in Thailand, Pranjala Yadlapalli beat compatriot Sowjanya Bavisetti 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 in the first round. She will play fifth seed Jacqueline Cako from America next.
However, Rutuja Bhosale retired from her match to give Australia’s Maddison Inglis a 6-1, 1-0 walkover win. Bhosale and Yadlapalli had lost their first round doubles match to Inglis and her Australian partner Kaylah Mcphee on Monday.
In the same event, Karman Kaur Thandi and partner Jia-Qi Kang, seeded fourth in women’s doubles, beat Aunchisa Chanta and Supapitch Kuearum 6-2, 7-6(6) to reach quarterfinals. She had earlier beaten Nicha Lertpitaksinchai 6-3, 6-0 to reach the second round in singles.
At the Uzbekistan F3 Futures, Arjun Kadhe advanced in both singles and doubles. In singles, seeded fourth, he notched a 7-6(4), 7-5 win over Martin Borisiouk. The second seed in doubles with American partner Alex Lawson, they beat Russian duo Ivan Kalinin and Vladimir Korolev 6-1, 7-6(4).
At Singapore F3 Futures, all three Indians were ousted in the first round of singles. Ilija Vucic beat Nitin Kumar Sinha lost 6-3, 6-1 while David Agung Susanto beat Aryan Goveas 6-3, 6-4. Earlier, Karunuday Singh, seeded eighth had lost to Jeremy Beale7-5, 3-6, 2-6.
The doubles hopes were still alive though, as Goveas and Karunuday, seeded third, beat Roy Hobbs and Jonathan-Kyle Tan 6-0, 7-6(3).
At the ITF Zimbabwe F1 Futures, Anirudh Chandrasekar beat Vasilios Caripi 6-0, 7-6(5) while Anurag Nenwani, Anshumat Srivastava and Kunal Vazirani went down in the first round. Anirudh and Vignesh Peranamallur were alive in the doubles as well, with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Mark Chigaazira and Richard Thongoana.
At the $15,000 ITF tournament in Antalya, Indian women had representation in doubles. Jennifer Luikham and Almudena Sanz-Llaneza Fernandez beat Irina Lapustina And Teodora Stinga 6-4, 6-3 while Kyra Shroff and partner Ola Abou Zekry gave a walkover win.
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