Ramkumar beats Duckhee Lee in $125K Challenger

Davis Cupper Ramkumar Ramanathan overcame a sluggish start to beat seventh seed Duckhee Lee of Korea 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the first round of the $125,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Chinese Taipei on Monday.

Firing 11 aces and converting three of seven breakpoints, the 22-year-old Ramkumar asserted his strong game.

There was more good news for the Indian camp, as Sasi Kumar Mukund beat Toshihide Matsui 6-3, 6-4 in the third and final qualifying round. He converted two of six breakpoints and did not face any breakpoint in the match.

For his commendable effort, Sasi Kumar was rewarded with a first round against sixth seed Vasek Pospisil of Canada.

Another Davis Cupper, who made such a robust debut with Rohan Bopanna in doubles against the Uzbeks recently in Bengaluru, Sriram Balaji made the pre-quarterfinals of singles with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Miki Jankovic of Serbia in the $25,000 ITF men’s Futures in Uzbekistan.

The results:

$125,000 Challenger men, Chinese Taipei

Singles (first round): Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Duckhee Lee (Kor) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Qualifying singles (third and final round): Sasi Kumar Mukund bt Toshihide Matsui (Jpn) 6-3, 6-4.

$25,000 ITF men, Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Singles (first round): Sriram Balaji bt Miki Jankovic (Srb) 6-4, 6-3.

Qualifying singles (second and final round): Shahbaaz Khan bt Anton Djamalov (Uzb) 6-1, 6-2.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Botir Sapaev & Pavel Tsoy (Uzb) bt Alexis Canter (GBR) & Shahbaaz Khan 7-6(5), 3-6, 10-4.

$15,000 ITF men, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

Qualifying singles (second round): Romain Bauvy (Fra) bt Megh Bhargav Patel 6-3, 6-2; Jose Daniel Bendeck (Col) bt Sachin Vasantha Kumara 6-0, 6-1.

$15,000 ITF men, Doha, Qatar

Qualifying singles (second round): Omar Alawachi (UAE) bt Aditya Deswal 6-4, 6-0.

$25,000 ITF women, Santa Margherita Di Pula, Italy

Qualifying singles (first round): Prarthana Thombare bt Barbora Palcatova (Svk) 7-5, 6-1.

$15,000 ITF women, Cairo, Egypt

Quaifying singles (second round): Shweta Rana bt HanieAouelsaad (Egy) 7-6(2), 6-4.