Ramkumar, Paes make early exits from Atlanta Open

Ramkumar goes down 6-4, 6-4 to American World No. 5 Taylor Fritz.

Ramkumar Ramanathan crashed out of Atlanta Open. (File Photo)

Ramkumar Ramanathan was beaten by Taylor Fritz of the U.S. 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the USD 748,450 ATP tennis tournament in Atlanta, U.S.

After the high of reaching the final last week at Newport, in which he played three sets against Steve Johnson of the U.S., life was back to normal for the 23-year-old Ramkumar, with a career-best rank of 115.

Leander Paes, in partnership with Jamie Cerretani of the U.S., also crashed to a first round defeat in the doubles.

Ankita Raina went down fighting 10-8 in the super tie-break in partnership with Jia-Jing Lu of China in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the USD 250,000 WTA event in Nanchang. Karman Kaur Thandi lost her doubles pre-quarterfinals with Sabina Sharipova, but will play sixth seed Zheng Saisai of China in the singles pre-quarterfinals on Thursday.