Yuki, Ramkumar to clash for place in Indian Wells main draw

Yuki Bhambri, seeded ninth, edged past America’s Dennis Novikov 7-5, 7-5 while Ramkumar Ramanathan defeated Michael Mmoh 6-3, 7-5 in his first round match.

India’s top singles player Yuki Bhambri will clash for a place in the main draw of the Indian Wells Masters.

Davis Cuppers Yuki Bhabri and Ramkumar Ramanathan will battle against each other for one of the qualifying berths of the $7,972,535 ATP 1000 tennis tournament in Indian Wells, US. While the ninth seeded Yuki beat Dennis Novikov of the US 7-5, 7-5, Ramkumar beat another American Michael Mmoh 6-3, 7-5. The two meet in the second and final qualifying round. Both have assured themselves of eight ATP points so far. The qualifier will get 16 ATP points apart from 10 for the first round of main draw and a minimum prize purse of $15,610. Meanwhile, Sriram Balaji had to withdraw from the doubles draw of the $75,000 Challenger in Zhuhai, China, as his partner Yasutaka Uchiyama had a neck injury. Balaji himself had retired before the start of the second round of the singles qualifying event, owing to a muscle catch, but had recovered over the last few days. Balaji and the Japanese were seeded No.1 and were replaced by alternates Lorenzo Sonego and Andrea Vavassori of Italy. In the $60,000 ITF women’s tournament in China, Ankita Raina in partnership with Kimberley Zimmermann of Belgium was beaten in the doubles quarterfinals by the Chinese duo of Xinyu Jiang and Qianhui Tang.

The results: $7,972,535 ATP, Indian Wells, US Qualifying singles (first round): Yuki Bhambri bt Dennis Novikov (US) 7-5, 7-5; Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Michael Mmoh (US) 6-3, 7-5. $60,000 ITF women, Zhuhai, China Doubles (quarterfinals): Xinyu Jiang & Qianhui Tang (Chn) bt Kimberley Zimmermann (Bel) & Ankita Raina 6-3, 6-4. $15,000 ITF women, Solarino, Italy Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Tayisiya Morderger (Ger) bt Nandini Sharma 6-2, 6-3.