Yuki Bhambri was the only Indian to cross the first hurdle in the Australian Open qualifiers, Somdev Devvarman and Ramkumar Ramanathan falling by the way side, on Monday.
Ranked 314th, he knocked out Russian 15th seed Evgeny Donskoy with a 4-6, 6-1, 8-6 victory in his first round match on Show Court 2.
The 22-year-old now faces Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka, who outplayed Chile's Gonzalo Lama, winning 6-2, 6-1.
Nishioka is placed 149 places above Yuki but the Indian will take confidence from the fact that in Donskoy he beat somebody who is ranked as high as 129.
Somdev’s lean run continued as he lost 4-6, 6-3, 4-6 to lower-ranked American Austin Krajicek.
The 284th-ranked Ramkumar went down fighting to 254th-ranked Nils Langer of Germany 5-7, 6-4, 4-6 in his opening qualifying round of the first Grand Slam of the season.
Image: Yuki Bhambri
Photograph: Renee McKay/Getty Images
