RAMKUMAR BOWS OUT IN MADRID; SASI KUMAR MUKUND QUALIFIES IN KARSHI

Davis Cupper Ramkumar Ramanathan was beaten 6-4, 6-3 by Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France in the first qualifying round of the ATP 1000 tennis tournament in Madrid, Spain.

The Indian challenge will thus be restricted to Rohan Bopanna in doubles, in partnership with Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France, seeded eighth and given a bye in the first round.

In the $75,000 Challenger in Karshi, Sasi Kumar Mukund did very well to three rounds without dropping a set to make the main draw.

In the ITF men's Futures in Uganda, Dhruv Sunish got past a fighting Ansu Bhuyan, in the final qualifying round, as the latter was slapped a default in the second set tie-break for breaching the code of conduct.

The results:
€ 7,190,930 ATP 1000, Madrid, Spain
Qualifying singles (first round): Pierre-Hugues Herbert (Fra) bt Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-3.

$75,000 Challenger men, Karshi, Uzbekistan
Qualifying singles (third and final round): Sasi Kumar Mukund bt Marek Gengel (Cze) 6-2, 6-4; Shuichi Sekiguchi (Jpn) bt Vijay Sundar Prashanth 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(2).

Second round: Sasi Kumar Mukund bt Luca Margaroli (Sui) 6-3, 6-3; Marek Gengel (Cze) bt Sidharth Rawat 7-6(3), 7-6(1); Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Oleksandr Bielinskyi (Ukr) 6-2, 6-2.

First round: Sasi Kumar Mukund bt Mikhail Elgin (Rus) 6-3, 5-2 (retired); Sidharth Rawat bt Sanetulla Kutibaev (Uzb) 6-4, 6-1; Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Timur Khabibulin (Kaz) 5-7, 6-3, 6-0.

$25,000 ITF men, Wuhan, China
Qualifying singles (first round): Danny Ha (Aus) bt Mohit Jain 7-5, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF men, Cairo, Egypt
Qualifying singles (second and final round): PC Vignesh bt Prithvi Sekhar 6-3, 6-4.

First round: PC Vignesh bt Maxim Turyev (Rus) 6-4, 6-1; rithvi Sekhar bt Kevin Portmann (Ita) 6-0, 6-2; Anton Magnusson (Isl) bt Gokul Suresh 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Mousa Alkotop (Jor) bt Tarun Anirudh Chilakalapudi 6-3, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF men, Jerba, Tunisia
Qualifying singles (second and final round): Edward Hardwood (GBR) bt Rajendra Kedam 6-1, 6-0.

$15,000 ITF men, Antalya, Turkey
Qualifying singles (second round): Muzammil Murtaza (Pak) bt Neeraj Yashpaul 6-1, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF men, Kampala, Uganda
Qualifying singles (second and final round): Dhruv Sunish bt Ansu Bhuyan 6-1, 6-6 (7-7) default; Niklas Johansson (Swe) bt Rishi Reddy 6-3, 6-3; Vasisht Cheruku bt Ahmed Choudhary (Pak) 6-1, 6-2.

First round: Dhruv Sunish bt Tristan Da Lio (Fra) 6-2, 7-6(2); Ansu Bhuyan bt Dariusz Lipka (Pol) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; Boris Aguma (Uga) bt Kavan Somu Kumar 6-3, 6-4; Rishi Reddy bt Paul Ssekandi (Uga) 6-0, 6-2; Franco Ribero (Arg) bt Kunj Kotak 6-1, 6-1; Nathan Lavanchy (Sui) bt Prashanth Selvaraj 6-4, 6-2; Vasisht Cheruku bt Paras Dahiya 6-1, 6-4.

$15,000 ITF men, Thua Thien Hue, Vietnam
Singles (first round): Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Yuichi Ito (Jpn) 4-6, 6-2, 2-0 (retired); Kelsey Stevensonn (Can) bt Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3; Ji Sung Nam (Kor) bt Karunuday Singh 6-4, 6-3.

Qualifying singles (second and final round): Gengo Kikuchi (Jpn) bt NIki Poonacha 6-1, 6-1.

First round: Palaphoom Kovapitukted (Tha) bt Paramveer Singh Bajwa 6-2, 6-4; Niki Poonacha bt Nicholas Bybell (US) 6-4, 6-4.

$25,000 ITF women, Monzon, Spain
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Chiara Scholl (US) & Pranjala Yadlapalli bt Emma Laine (Fin) & Katie Swan (GBR) 6-4, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF women, Cairo, Egypt
Qualifying singles (first and final round): Sabhyata Nihalani bt Rosaline Zafir Chavez Tello (Pan) 6-1, 6-0.

$15,000 ITF women, Sajur, Israel
Qualifying singles (second and final round): Mihika Yadav bt Amelia Stuart (GBR) 6-2, 6-1; First round: Mihika Yadav bt Tamara Barad Itzhaki (Isr) 6-1, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF women, Hua Hin, Thailand
Singles (first round): Chang Liu (Chn) bt Sowjanya Bavisetti 6-1, 6-2; Mananchaya Sawangkaew (Tha) bt Zeel Desai 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ho Ching Wu (Hkg) & Ramya Natarajan bt Lorrraine Guillermo (US) & Aleandra Walters (Aus) 6-3, 6-2.

Qualifying singles (third and final round): Yi Tsen Cho (Tpe) bt Ramya Natarajan 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.

Second round: Ramya Natarajan bt Yu Shan (Chn) 6-2, 6-1; Yi Tsen Cho (Tpe) bt Bhuvana Kalva 6-0, 6-2.

First round: Bhuvana Kalva bt Hsin-Yuan Shih (Tpe) 6-2, 6-1; Ai Kamiyoshihara (Jpn) bt Avika Sagwal 6-4, 7-5; Maree Teiwa Casey (Aus) bt Radhika Yadav 6-2, 7-5; Sakura Hosogi (Jpn) bt Nidittra Rajmohan 6-1, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF women, Hammamet, Tunisia
Qualifying singles (second and final round): Annika Kannan bt Veronika Masarova (Esp) 6-2, 6-1.

$15,000 ITF women, Antalya, Turkey
Qualifying singles (second round): Daria Solovyeva (Rus) bt Jennifer Luikham 7-5, 7-6(2).