Yuki Bhambri's comeback ends in a fighting defeat in Belgium

Yuki Bhambri went down fighting against Italy's Salvatore Caruso at the ATP tournament in Belgium.

Yuki Bhambri was beaten by Salvatore Caruso of Italy 7-6(6), 5-7, 6-1 in the first round of the ATP tennis tournament in Antwerp, Belgium.

Yuki Bhambri returned to the circuit with a good fighting game, but was beaten by Salvatore Caruso of Italy 7-6(6), 5-7, 6-1 in the first round of the ATP tennis tournament in Antwerp, Belgium, on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old Yuki, who has played only two matches, one each at Wimbledon and US Open, after retiring midway through the match against Milos Raonic at the Queen’s Club in June, lost steam in the decider.

In the doubles pre-quarterfinals, Divij Sharan, seeded fourth with Artem Sitak of New Zealand, beat Leander Paes and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela 7-5, 6-4.

Read: Svitolina qualifies for WTA Finals after Pliskova loses

In the $150,000 Challenger in China, Davis Cupper Prajnesh Gunneswaran continued with his good run as he made the quarterfinals, as he blanked Li Zhe of China with a solid performance in the third set tie-break.

In the $100,000 ITF women’s event in China, it was a chastening experience for Karman Kaur Tahndi and Ankita Raina as they were outclassed by sixth seed Lin Zhu of China and Jana Cepelova of Slovakia respectively, in the first round.

 

The results: €686,080 ATP, Antwerp, Beglium Singles (first round): Salvatore Caruso (Ita) bt Yuki Bhambri 7-6(6), 5-7, 6-1. Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Artem Sitak (Nzl) & Divij Sharan bt Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (Mex) 7-5, 6-4.   $150,000 Challenger men, Ningbo, China Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt Li Zhe (Chn) 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(0). Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sriram Balaji & Saketh Myneni bt Hiroki Moriya (Jpn) & Rubin Statham (Nzl) 6-0, 6-3; Prajnesh Gunneswaran & Arjun Kadhe bt Enrique Lopez Perez (Esp) & Goncalo Oliveira (Por) 6 1, 3-6, [10-7]; Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (Esp) & Federico Gaio (Ita) bt Sumit Nagal & Ramkumar Ramanathan 4-6, 7-5, [11-9].   €43,000 Challenger men, Ismaning, Germany Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Antonio Sancic (Cro) & Purav Raja bt Andre Begemann (Ger) & Filip Polasek (Svk) 6-4, 7-6(5).   $15,000 ITF men, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt Singles (first round): Isaac Stoute (GBR) bt Sagar Ahuja 6-0, 6-1; Gabriel Petit (Fra) bt Anurag Nenwani 6-4, 6-4.   $100,000 ITF women, Suzhou, China Singles (first round): Lin Zhu (Chn) bt Karman Kaur Thandi 6-0, 6-0; Jana Cepelova (Svk) bt Ankita Raina 6-1, 6-2