Ramkumar Ramanathan proved his ascendancy in Indian tennis yet again as he knocked out Yuki Bhambri from the ATP Indore Open even as India's top player Somdev Devvarman also made an early exit, in Indore, on Thursday.
Ramkumar, who had also shocked Somdev at this year's Chennai Open, overcame the challenge of sixth seed Yuki 7-6(4), 6-3 to move to the quarter-finals of the US $50,000 hard court event.
The 19-year-old Chennai youngster has been impressive this year, having won four ITF Futures singles title so far.
There was no break of serve in the opening set but Ramkumar succeeded in breaking his senior compatriot twice in the second set of the match, which lasted one hour and 45 minutes.
Third seed Somdev, ranked 143rd lost a hard-fought quarter-final 7-6(4), 4-6, 4-6 to Chinese Taipei's Liang-Chi Hunag, who is ranked as low as 316, after fighting it out for close to three hours in the second round contest.
Ramkumar, Saketh Myneni and Sanam Singh are the only three Indians left in the main draw of the singles.
Ramkumar will take on Chinese Taipei's Ti Chen, who overcame Frenchman Fabrice Martin 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4, while Saketh and Sanam will clash against each other.
Later in the day, Yuki and Divij Sharan, seeded second, enter the semi-finals with a 7-6(4), 6-2 win over Japanese pair of Hiroki Moriya and Yasutaka Uchiyama.
Image: Somdev Devvarman
Photograph: Renee McKay/Getty Images
