Yuki Bhambri tames Yoshihito Nishioka in Busan

The 25-year-old Yuki wrestled past Nishioka 3-6, 7-6(6), 3-0 when the Asian Games gold medallist retired, as he was possibly tired following his title triumph last week in the Gimcheon Challenger when he came through as a qualifier.

The 94th ranked Yuki Bhambri (above) will play the Chinese Davis Cupper, Ze Zhang. (File Photo)

Yuki Bhambri tamed Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan in the first round of the $150,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Busan, Korea, on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old Yuki wrestled past Nishioka 3-6, 7-6(6), 3-0 when the Asian Games gold medallist retired, as he was possibly tired following his title triumph last week in the Gimcheon Challenger when he came through as a qualifier.

Yuki had lost to Nishioka, who had risen to a career-best rank of 58 in 2017, after winning the first set in the semifinals of the Asian Games in Incheon, in 2014. The two met twice in the professional circuit in 2015, with Yuki winning at the Australian Open and Nishioka at the US Open, qualifying events. The 94th ranked Yuki will play the Chinese Davis Cupper, Ze Zhang.

READ: Ankita Raina clinches doubles title in China

In the Challenger in Samarkand, Sriram Balaji did well not only to qualify but fought his way in the first round against Filip Horanksy of Slovakia. Balaji recovered from a bad start to lead 0-6, 6-4, 3-1 before the Slovak equalised for 3-3 when ‘’darkness’’ stopped play.

In the $25,000 ITF women’s event in China, Rutuja Bhosale progressed into the second round, but second seed Karman Kaur Thandi retired after five games in her match against Wushuang Zheng with a pulled abdomen muscle. The 254th ranked Karman had beaten the Chinese girl in straight sets in the Canadian Open junior event in 2015.

“I had pulled the abs even before the doubles match, during the first day’s practice in Wuhan”, said Karman, when queried about her retirement in the match.

The results:

$150,000 Challenger men, Busan, Korea Singles (first round): Yuki Bhambri bt Yoshihito Nishioka (Jpn) 3-6, 7-6(6), 3-0 (retired).

$75,000 Challenger men, Samarkand, Uzbekistan Singles (first round):

Qualifying singles (third and final round): Sriram Balaji bt Tristan Lamasine (Fra) 6-1, 7-5; Manuel Pena Lopez (Arg) bt Sasi Kumar Mukund 6-4, 7-6(5).

$15,000 ITF men, Kampala, Uganda Singles (first round): Ajeet Rai (Nzl) bt Jayesh Pungliya 6-2, 6-3; VM Ranjeet bt Vasisht Cheruku 6-1, 4-6, 6-2; David Perez Sanz (Esp) bt Rishi Reddy 6-4, 6-3.

$15,000 ITF men, Thua Thien Hue, Vietnam Singles (first round): Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam bt Jae-Min Seol (Kor) 6-2, 6-1; Paramveer Singh Bajwa bt Ku Keon Kang (Kor) 6-2, 7-6(5); Niki Poonacha bt Nawakarn Khunjan (Tha) 6-4, 6-2; Karunuday Singh bt Nitin Kumar Sinha 6-3, 6-2.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Jeremy Beale (Aus) & Karunuday Singh bt Pattanapong Borisutpong & Nawakarn Khunjan (Tha) 6-4, 6-1; Ji Sung Nam & Min-Kyu SSong (Kor) bt Dasuke Sumizawa (Jpn) & Nitin Kumar Sinha 7-6(3), 7-6(6).

$25,000 ITF women, Wuhan, China Singles (first round): Rutuja Bhosale bt Yanni Liu (Chn) 6-3, 7-5; Wushuang Zheng (Chn) bt Karman Kaur Thandi 4-1 (retired).

$15,000 ITF women, Tiberias, Israel Singles (first round): Vasilisa Aponasenko (Rus) bt Riya Bhatia 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.