By IANS,
New Delhi : India’s teen sensation Yuki Bhambri bowed out of the SAIL OPen Indian $50,000 Challenger, but not before taking a set off his first-round opponent Australian Adam Feeney here at the DLTA Complex Monday. He lost 6-4, 3-6, 2-6.
Yuki, 15, played with confidence in the first set and raced to a 4-1 lead after breaking Feeney in the third and fifth game.
The Australian pulled one back, and Yuki held his serve thereafter to take the set. The Indian began well in the second set breaking Feeney early, but could not consolidate the position. The Australian, who was defensive in the first set, had more forays to the net in the second, taking the initiative at the first available opportunity.
Feeney dominated the second set breaking Yuki in the fourth and sixth game.
A set-all, Yuki showed signs of fatigue and lapsed into errors. As Feeney gained in confidence and p0layed steady tennis, Yuki got desperate and even lost his cool to receive a warning from the umpire racquet abuse as he banged it more than once to take his frustration out.
The Australian broke Yuki in fifth game and again in the seventh to settle the issue in a shade over two hour.
Feeney next meets the winner of the match between Prakash Amritraj and seventh seed American Brendan Evans to be played Tuesday.
In the other singles match, second seeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg faced a shock first round exit, losing to American qualifier Travis Rettenmaier 7-6(3), 3-6, 3-6.
Ilia Marchenko is the other qualifier to make the second round, beating Brazilian Ricardo Mello after being a set down,3-6, 6-4,6-0.
The wild card entry from Kuwait Mohammed Ghareeb made the second round, defeating Australian Andrew Coelho 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) while third seeded Kristian Pless of Denmark beat German Alex Satschko 6-4,5-7,6-2.
In an all-Australian clash, Nick Lindahl ousted compatriot Alun Jones 7-6(5), 7-5 in the first round.
In the doubles, Prakash Amritraj and his US-based partner Rajeev Ram proved too good for the top seeds Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan, beating them 6-2,6-3. Amritraj and Ram next meet Indian pair Harsh Mankad and Ashutosh Singh who toppled Russian-Japanese combine of Alexandre Kudryavtsev and Gouichi Motomura 7-6 (2), 6-4.
However, doubts linger on Bopanna’s fitness. He is to play fourth seed Japanese Go Soeda Tuesday. Bopanna, who had suffered a knee injury last month before the Davis Cup tie against Japan, said he would take a decision whether to play in the singles Tuesday morning.
“I guess the three-week rest after the Davis Cup was not enough. My knee is still hurting. I will take a final decision whether to play before tomorrow’s match only,” he said after his doubles loss.