Tata Open Maharashtra: India's Ramkumar enters doubles quarter-finals

Pune, Jan 3 (IANS) Ramkumar Ramanathan made his way into the doubles quarter-finals along with Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela at the fifth edition the Tata Open Maharashtra after defeating the pair of Rohan Bopanna and Botic van de Zandschulp 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 11-9 at the Balewadi Stadium, here on Tuesday.

The Indo-Mexican duo put up a brilliant performance against the strong opposition team consisting of the two-time champion Indian tennis ace Bopanna.

The exciting contest saw tough competition from both the ends as the two sets, too, were decided into the tie breakers before Ramkumar and Reyes-Varela managed to tilt the result in their favour in the end in the final tie-breaker.

The duo will now face the three-time Grand Slam champions Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, who overcame the challenge from Sebastian Baez-Luis David Martinez 6-3, 7-6 (1) in their opening encounter.

It was a mixed day for Ramkumar, who went down fighting 6-3, 5-7, 3-6 against the World No. 62 Pedro Martinez in a thrilling singles opening-round contest, earlier in the day. Another Indian pair of N. Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, also made it to the Round-of-8 after defeating Purav Raja and Divij Sharan 6-4, 6-3 in an all-Indian clash.

Meanwhile, Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni went down fighting against the French pair of Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul 7-6 (1), 5-7, 7-10.

The ongoing edition of South Asia's only ATP 250 event, which is being conducted by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) in association with the Government of Maharashtra for the fifth year in Pune.

World No. 17 Marin Cilic, who received bye in the first round of singles, will be in action on Wednesday as he begins his campaign against Roberto Carballes Baena.

Earlier, India's challenge came to an end in the singles after Mukund Sasikumar suffered hard-fought defeat in the Round-of-32 matches. He lost to Flavio Cobolli 4-6, 5-7. Other Indian singles players, Sumit Nagal and Manas Dhamne, made exits on Monday.

In the other singles match, the No. 8 seed Aslan Karatsev made a winning start to his campaign as he thrashed Pablo Andujar 6-1 6-3. Tim van Rijthoven and Maximilian Marterer also progressed into the second round of the tournament, which will go on till January 7.