15-year-old Dhamne to begin India’s challenge as main draw begins on Monday_
Ramkumar Ramanathan posted a brilliant victory against Mattia Bellucci to enter the singles main draw in fifth Tata Open Maharashtra at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune on Sunday.
The 28-year-old Indian, who came as a wildcard, put up a spectacular show in the final round of the qualifiers to secure a comfortable 6-3, 7-5 win over the No. 3 seed Italian.
Ramanathan will be the fourth Indian to feature in the singles main draw at the ongoing edition of South Asia’s only ATP 250 event, which is being conducted by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) in association with the Government of Maharashtra for the fifth year in Pune.
India No. 1 Mukund Sasikumar, Sumit Nagal and the 15-year-old Manas Dhamne are the country’s other three players to compete in the main draw.
Meanwhile, in another qualifying match, Yuki Bhambri’s challenge came to an end after he suffered a 1-6, 4-6 loss against the last edition’s semi-finallist Elias Ymer.
Maximilian Marterer and Flavio Cobolli were the other two players to progress into the main event. While Marterer beat Nikola Milojevic 6-2, 6-3, Cobolli got the better of Zdenek Kolar by 6-4, 6-4.
The Pune-born tennis prodigy Dhamne is set to kickstart India’s challenge in the main draw on Monday when he takes on the American player Michael Mmoh in the singles opening round match.
Sumit Nagal will also be seen in action against Filip Krajinovic.
The prestigious tournament, owned by IMG and managed by RISE Worldwide, is sponsored by Tata Motors.
The tournament will go on till January 7.
