Yuki Bhambri made his return to competitive tennis after over two years away due to a complicated injury layoff and put up a good fight before going down in the first round, bringing India’s singles challenge to an end at the Singapore Open on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Prajnesh Gunneswaran started his campaign at the ATP Challenger in Nur-sultan with a win, after back-to-back opening losses at his last three Challengers. He beat Dostanbek Tashbulatov 6-2, 6-3 and will play Brayden Schnur next.
Playing his first professional match since October 2018, the now unranked Bhambri lost 6-3, 7-6 (3) to Australia’s Matthew Ebden. The 28-year-old had entered the ATP 250 tournament using his protected ranking of 127. This will allow him an entry in nine tournaments in six months or 12 tournaments of his choice in as many months as per ranking eligibility.
On Monday in Singapore, Ramkumar Ramanathan had lost to Taro Daniel 3-6, 7-6(3), 3-6 in singles but is alive in the doubles with partner Purav Raja. They got a walkover in the first round after their opponents pulled out due to injury.
N Sriram Balaji and his Swiss partner Luca Margaroli started with a win beating Shaheed Alam and Roy Hobbs 7-5, 6-1.
Earlier, Rohan Bopanna had played his first singles match in over seven years in the qualifiers but lost to Christopher Eubanks 3-6, 4-6. He also went down in the doubles opener with partner Ben McLachlan. Luis David Martinez and David Vega Hernandez beat the second-seeded pair were 6-4, 6-2.
Earlier in the week, Ankita Raina went down in the qualifying of the WTA 500 tournament in Adelaide losing 1-6, 3-6 by Catherine McNally. Sumit Nagal also went down in the qualifying at the ATP 250 Cordoba Open where Facundo Diaz Acosta beat him 4-6, 6-2, 3-6.
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