Tata Open Maharashtra: India's Bhambri, Ramanathan off to winning start in qualifiers

Pune, Dec 31: The opening day of the fifth edition of Tata Open Maharashtra turned out to be a mixed bag for Indian players at the Balewadi Stadium here on Sunday (December 31).

Yuki Bhambri and Ramkumar Ramanathan won their opening games in the singles qualifying round while Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Sidharth Rawat and Aditya Balsekar tasted defeats in their respective matches.

Bhambri-Ramanathan win

While Bhambri dominated Diego Hidalgo by 6-2, 6-2 in a one-sided match, Chennai-based Ramanathan, who entered the draw as a wildcard, registered a sensational come-from-behind 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory against Otto Virtanen.

South Asia's only ATP 250 event, Tata Open Maharashtra is being conducted by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) in association with the Government of Maharashtra for the fifth year in Pune.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran went down fighting 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-5 against the former Word No. 45 Maximilian Marterer, while Rawat made Zdenek Kolar work hard before losing the match by 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-1. Balsekar was defeated by Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 6-0.

In other first-round matches, last year's semi-finallist Elias Ymer made progress after his opponent Miljan Zekic retired. Mattia Bellucci beat Vladyslav Orlov 6-4, 6-4 and Nikola Milojevic also thrashed Nicholas David Ionel by 6-3, 6-2 in a similar fashion.

The second and final round of the qualifiers will be played on Sunday as Bhambri, Ramanathan and others will look to win and secure the main draw spots for themselves.

Bhambri and Ramanathan will take on Ymer and Bellucci respectively in the final round. The prestigious tournament, owned by IMG and managed by RISE Worldwide, is sponsored by Tata Motors.

Earlier in the day, the 15-year-old rising India star Manas Dhamne was handed a main draw wildcard in the singles as the draws were announced. The Pune-born tennis prodigy Dhamne will be seen competing in the main draw alongside the global tennis stars including world number 17 Marin Cilic.

The main draw will take place from January 2 to 7.