Hangzhou: Rohan Bopanna and Yuki Bhambri’s shocking defeat to a pair from Uzbekistan that has players ranked well below 300 in men’s doubles was a huge setback for the Indian tennis squad at the Asian Games here on Monday as the rest of the squad marched on at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Tennis Stadium here.
Bopanna is ranked 7th in the World in men’s doubles while Bhambri is 65th. Bopanna recently finished runner-up in the US Open and had partnered with Bhambri to help India to victory in the Davis Cup World Group II encounter against Morocco in Lucknow, a few days before leaving for Hangzhou.
On Monday, they were stunned by Uzbekistan’s Sergey Fomin and Khumoyun Sultanov 6-2, 3-6, 6-10 in a second-round clash in men’s doubles in a match played on the centre court on Monday.
Bopanna, however, returned a few hours later to partner Rutuja Bhosale to reach the third round in the mixed doubles competition, beating Uzbekistan’s Aakgul Amanmuradova and Maksim Shin in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4 in a match played on Court 6 that last just over one hour.
Bopanna and seeded second in the Mixed Doubles section and received a bye in the first round. India’s Yuki and Ankita Raina, the top seeds in mixed doubles, are yet to play their second-round match.
Meanwhile, in women’s singles, Ankita and Rutuja reached the third round after winning their respective matches in straight sets.
Ankita handed Uzbekistan’s Sabrina Olimjova a double bagel, winning 6-0, 6-0 in less than an hour on Monday.
Rutuja had to quell a tough fight by Kazakhstan’s Aruzhan Sagandykova 7-6(2), 6-2 in a second-round match in two hours at Court 4 on Monday. Rutuja broke her opponent’s service in the sixth and eighth games of the second after being taken to the tie-breaker in the first.
Rutuja then combined with Karman Kaur Thandi to beat Kazakhstan’s Zhanei Rustemova and Aruzhan Sagandykova 6-4, 6-2 in a women’s doubles first-round match.
In men’s singles, India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan advanced to the third round after his opponent Sunatulla Isroilov gave him a walkover.
Ramkuamr and Saketh Myneni, the second-seeded Indian pair, advanced to the third round in men’s doubles by beating Indonesia’s Ignatius Anthony Susanto and David Agung Susanto 6-3, 6-2 in 68 minutes.
–IANS
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