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