Indian tennis: Ramkumar survives first-round scare, Prajnesh loses at ATP Shenzhen Challenger

Sasi Kumar Mukund got the better of Chinese wonder-kid Yibing Wu but in-form Prajnesh Gunneswaran suffered a shock first round defeat at the ATP Challenger tournament in Shenzen, China.

The 21-year-old Sasi, who qualified into the main draw and has made good progress on the Pro circuit, defeated Wu 7-6 (4) 6-2 in one hour and 20 minutes to move to the second round of the USD 75,000 hard court event on Monday.

Wu had won the junior US Open last year and also became junior world number one after his Grand Slam win.

Sasi will next face Canadian eighth seed Filip Peliwo.

Fourth seed Prajnesh, who played intense tennis in the past two weeks, lost 3-6 4-6 to Alejandro Davidovick Fokina from Spain.

“Yes I was a bit tired after a hectic two weeks,” he said.

In the battle of the Indians, third seed Ramkumar Ramanathan fought off qualifier Sumit Nagal 3-6 6-4 7-6(2) in his opening round. Ramkumar is now up against Egypt’s Mohamed Safwat.

It was a bad day for Saketh Myneni as he had to concede his first round contest against Frenchman Johan Tatlot due to foot blisters. Myneni, who had also qualified for the main draw, was trailing 0-6 in the match when he decided to move out of the contest.

“I have blood blisters on the foot and had to get it drained today. I could not walk in the morning. It needs a couple of days to heal,” said Myneni.

In the doubles event, Arjun Kadhe and his Thai partner Sanchai Ratiwatana moved to the quarterfinals with a 6-3 6-4 win over Mikhail Elgin and Yaraslav Shyla.

There is no Indian in action at the WTA Mumbai Open on Tuesday.