Australian Open: India's Bhambri faces World No. 6 Berdych in first round

India's tennis player Yuki Bhambri was handed a tough draw at the Australian Open when he found himself pitted against World No. 6 Tomas Berdych in the opening round of the men's singles event, starting in Melbourne, on Monday.

Last year, Bhambri had lost in the first round to Briton Andy Murray 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) in two hours 12 minutes.

Berdych had opted out of Czech Republic's Davis Cup team when India hosted them for the World Group Play-off tie in September last year.

Courtesy of his superb performance in 2015, the 23-year-old Bhambri broke the top-100 barrier for the first time in his career and ensured himself a direct entry into the first Grand Slam of the year.

Meanwhile, India's Saketh Myneni inched closer to the men's singles draw by reaching the third round of the Qualifiers.

In the second round on Friday, Myneni faced stiff resistance from Italian Lorenzo Giustino before prevailing 6-1, 7-6(7) in one hour and 25 minutes.

Myneni broke the Italian twice to take the opening set. In the second set, the duo traded breaks before the Indian sealed it in the tie-breaker.

He needs one more win to qualify for the main draw and next faces World No. 137 ranked and 22nd seed Mirza Basic from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Image: Yuki Bhambri

Photograph: Patrick Scala/Getty Images