India’s singles challenge at Wimbledon ended on Monday after Yuki Bhambri and Ramkumar Ramanathan lost in their respective first round qualifying matches.
India No 1 and world no 172 Ramkumar lost to the Czech Republic’s Vit Kopriva 7-5, 6-4 while world no 624 Bhambri lost to Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles 7-5, 6-1.
Bhambri had earned a spot in qualifying due to an injury protected ranking but was handed a tough first-round match against qualifying top-seed Zapata Miralles.
The Spaniard had enjoyed a deep run at the French Open in May making his way through the qualifiers till the fourth round clash. Zapata Miralles had defeated Americans John Isner and Taylor Fritz before losing to Alexander Zverev in the fourth round.
After a tight few games, Bhambri broke Zapata Miralles serve to go 5-3 and serve for the set. However, the 25-year-old Spaniard broke Bhambri’s serve twice in a four-game run to clinch the set 7-5.
Zapata Miralles carried forward the momentum breaking Bhambri’s twice in the second set as he went on clinch his spot in the second round of qualifying with a 7-5, 6-1 win in 81 minutes.
Facing off against 19th seed Kopriva, Ramkumar lost a tightly contested first set 7-5 before taking a 3-1 lead in the second. However, Kopriva won the next four games on the trot before going on to win the set 6-4.
As things stand, Sania Mirza, who is in her last season on tour, could be the only Indian to play at Wimbledon this year pairing up with Czech Lucie Hradecka. Veteran Rohan Bopanna decided to skip Wimbledon this year due to no points being available at the Grand Slam following its decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players from playing at the event.
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