Indian challenge in the qualifying event of Chennai Open ATP Tennis Championship came to an end as four of them bowed out in the second round in Chennai on Sunday.
Of the 17 Indians in fray for the 32-qualifying draw, Mustafa Ghouse, Karan Rastogi [Images], Kamala Kannan and Stephen Amritraj managed to make the second round beating their compatriots in the first round but the quartet falled to make the third and final round losing in straight sets to foreign rivals.
In the 13-year-history of this ATP event in India, only Rohan Bopanna as a qualifier had won the first round match.
He defeated Cyril Saulnier of France [Images] 6-3, 6-3 but lost to a higher rated Gilles Muller, also of France, 3-6, 4-6 in the second round.
Harsh Mankad, the only other qualifier to make the 2005 main draw, took a set before going down fighting to Kim Kevin of the US 4-6, 6-4, 4-6.
Among the four Indians on view on Sunday, Karan Rastogi dragged the first set to extra points before losing to Russian Alexandre Kudryavtsev 5-7, 3-6.
Results: Men's Singles Qualifying Round 2: I Kunitsyn (RUS) bt M Ghouse (IND) 6-2 3-0 (retired), K Pless (DEN) bt S Ratiwatana (THA) 7-6(3) 6-3, H Levy (ISR) bt K Kannan (IND) 6-2 6-1, S Galvani (ITA) bt S Amritraj (IND) 6-1, 6-1, A Peya (AUT) bt D Martin (USA) 7-6(5), 6-3, R Ram (USA) bt Mertinak (SVK) 6-2, 7-5, A Kudryavtsev (RUS) bt K Rastogi (IND) 7-5, 6-3, L Zovko (CRO) bt D Matsukevitch (RUS) 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.
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