India's top tennis players Rohan Bopanna and Prakash Amritraj crashed out in the first round of the $25,000 ATP Challenger series at Tumkur, Karnataka, on Tuesday.
World number 242 and sixth seed Marcello Craca of Germany downed Bopanna 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3) in over two hours, while Amritraj dished out a rather disappointing fare against Martin Lee of Britain, who won 6-2, 6-3.
Much was expected from Bopanna, who had already won a Challenger title at Jakarta, especially after his excellent performance in the recent Davis Cup tie against Holland.
Craca broke Bopanna, world number 351, in the ninth game to pocket the first set easily but the Coorg lad staged a comeback in the second to restore parity. In the decider, both held their serves but Craca kept his nerves in the tie-breaker to advance to the pre-quarterfinals.
Bopanna appeared to be unhappy with the uneven bounce at the new courts but there was no taking away credit from the victorious German.
On the other hand, Amritraj, world number 333, was totally off-colour and was thoroughly outplayed by Lee, ranked 700 in the world.