Yuki Bhambri, Ramkumar Ramanathan lose in French Open qualifiers

Yuki Bhambri and Ramkumar Ramanathan both bowed out in the opening round of the French Open qualifiers.

Yuki Bhambri lost 6-7, 6-7 to Canada’s 25th seed Peter Polansky.

India’s only two representatives in the men’s singles draw of French Open – Yuki Bhambri and Ramkumar Ramanathan – both crashed out in the first round of the qualifying rounds after suffering contrasting defeats on Monday.

Bhambri lost 6-7, 6-7 to Canada’s 25th seed Peter Polansky while Ramanathan lost to Argentina’s 13th seed Guido Pella 2-6, 1-6 in a dismal performance on Court Number 18.

Bhambri though provided a tough fight to World No 132 Polansky to lead 4-0 in the opening set but had his lead taken away to see the set draw back to 4-4. Bhambri did manage to stretch the first set to tie-break but the Canadian closed it by winning it 7-6.

The same theme followed in the second set where Bhambri started better and took a break advantage to lead 3-2. He looked good to win the second set but Polansky broke back and then held his serve to make it 5-4. Bhambri once again stretched the set to a tie-break and saved three match points as well. The Indian lost the match on the fourth set-point.

With both Indians losing in the qualifiers, no player from the country will feature in the men’s singles event in the second Grand Slam of the year which begins May 28.