It wasn’t an ideal start for Indian players on the first day of the US Open qualifiers. Both Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Yuki Bhambri, who played their respective men’s singles qualifying matches on Tuesday, lost.
Gunneswaran played the first match of the day on Court 14, against the 24th seeded Yannick Hanfmann of Germany. Hanfmann went on to win 6-1, 6-4 in an hour and eight minutes.
The Indian No 3 struggled with his serve and could only win 57% and 45% points off his first and second serves respectively. In comparison, Hanfmann won a solid 78% and 56% points off his first and second serves to keep himself ahead of his opponent throughout the match.
Hanfmann’s near impenetrability of serve also meant that Gunneswaran received only two break points even as he faced 17 break points on his own serve. Though to his credit, he did save 14 of those, the three which he wasn’t able to save put paid his dreams to advance further in the draw.
Meanwhile, Japanese 14th seeded Go Soeda needed three sets to beat the resilient Bhambri. The Indian took the first set 6-4, but Soeda made a turnaround thereafter to win the match 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 in 104 minutes.
While Bhambri did win around 67% points on his first serve, he couldn’t get his second serves right and converted only about 36% points off his second serves. On the other side of the net, Soeda finished the match, winning 73% and 59% of points through his first and second serves respectively.
As a result of his erratic serving, Bhambri also put in six double faults as compared to his opponent who had none. Likewise, in terms of break point chances, Bhambri converted two of the six break point opportunities that came his way – both of which came in the first set. He also faced 11 break points on his own serve, of which he could only save six.
Ramkumar Ramanathan now remains the last Indian in the men’s qualifying draw. The 22-year-old will play his first round match on Wednesday against France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu.