Bengaluru, Feb 15 (Tennis News) India's Sidharth Rawat secured a straight-set win over compatriot Mukund Sasikumar to enter the last 16 but it was curtains for local favourite Ramkumar Ramanathan in the men's singles at the Bengaluru Open 2 ATP Challenger, here on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old Rawat beat Sasikumar 6-4 6-4 to emerge as the only Indian in the single draw.

However, seventh seed Ramkumar's gallant fight ended with a 6-4 3-6 2-6 loss to France's Mathias Bourgue.

Doubles pair of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Purav Raja, meanwhile, quelled the challenge of Australians Thomas Fancutt and Jason Kubler 6-3 7-5 to enter the quarterfinals.

It was an exodus of fancied players in the first round with the biggest casualty being the defending champion and eighth seed Chun-hsin Tseng crashing out of the tournament.

Tseng, who had won the Bengaluru Open 1, went down tamely to Greece qualifier Markos Kalovelonis 2-6 2-6 in a match that lasted just 62 minutes.

A total of five seeded players bit the dust in their opening encounters on Tuesday.

Top Indian player, Ramkumar began with a bang earning a break in the opening game which set the tone for the rest of the set, which he eventually won 6-4.

However, his luck ran out in the second set and he also lost his composure as the match progressed with his French rival breaking his serve in the second game and winning the set 6-3.

He kept the pressure up against the crumbling nerves of Ramkumar, whose best shot was an ace which came at the fag end of the third set but could not stop Bourgue from walking into the pre-quarterfinals.

Among the top players in fray, Swiss Antoine Bellier felled fourth seed Federico Gaio of Italy 6-4 6-3, Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia won a long-fought battle against fifth seeded Czech Vit Kopriva 6-1 1-6 6-3, while runner-up last week Czech Borna Gojo survived a scare against qualifier Dominik Palan before prevailing 4-6 6-3 6-4. 

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News Source : PTI