Yuki Bhambri, Ramkumar Ramanathan win French Open qualifying openers

Paris: India number one Yuki Bhambri battled hard to knock out 14th seed Aleksandr Nedovyesov while Ramkumar Ramanathan fought past Guido Andreozzi in straight sets to progress to the second round of the French Open Qualifiers, here on Wednesday.

Yuki overcame the challenge of world number 116 Nedovyesov with a hard-fought 6-3 3-6 9-7 win in the opening round of the Clay Court Grand Slam event. It was a battle of attrition as Yuki edged out the Kazakhstan player by only three points, winning 115 to 112 of his tough rival from Kazakhstan.

Yuki saved nine break chances in the gruelling contest, in which he broke his rival four times. He was up 40-0 in the 16th game of the third set and converted his third Match point to close the contest.

Ramkumar fought off Argentine world number 182 opponent Guido Andreozzi 6-4 7-6 (4) in a first round match.

Earlier, Somdev had reached the second round with a tough 6-2 4-6 7-5 win over local player Enzo Couacaud, yesterday. Ramkumar next faces American giant-killer Jared Donaldson, who shocked Korean top seed and world number 69 Hyeon Chung 6-0 6-1 in his opening round.

Yuki is now up against Germany's Tim Puetz, who beat Australia's Jason Kubler 6-3 7-6(5). Somdev's next opponent is Russia's Evgeny Donskoy, who outplayed Argentina's Juan Ignacio Londero 6-1 6-3.