Savannah Challenger: Ramkumar staggers through to Round 2, Yuki ousted

Young Indian Davis Cupper Ramkumar Ramanathan advanced to the second round of the Savannah Challenger but Yuki Bhambri, who has returned to circuit after a month, went down fighting in the Gimcheon event in Korea.

Unseeded Ramkumar battled past local wild card Ryan Shane 6-4, 7-5 in the opening round of the US$50,000 clay court event in the US.

Ramkumar had ended runner-up at the Tallahassee Challenger last week. It was the first ever Challenger final for the 22-year-old and as a result he jumped 47 places to 217 in the ATP singles rankings.

Yuki, who missed the Uzbekistan tie in Bengaluru due to a knee issue, pushed the second seed Russian and world number 93 Konstantin Kravchuk 2-6, 6-1, 3-6 in the second round that lasted close to two hours.

Yuki played this tournament under Protected Ranking (PR).

Image: Ramkumar Ramanathan

Photograph: Atul Yadav/PTI