While Ramkumar suffered a 6-7(7), 6-4, 3-6 defeat against eight seed Stefano Travaglia of Italy, local boy Kadhe lost 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 2-6 to Portugal’s Joao Sousa. On centre court, both Ramkumar and Travaglia looked in good touch in an intense first set, whose score read 4-4 at one stage. The Chennai-based edged ahead 6-5 in the opener, but was forced into a tie-break that eventually ended in Travaglia’s favour.

Top-ranked Indian Ramkumar (World No.182) took control of the second set with a 4-2 lead. He later secured it comfortably with a brilliant serve to level the score. However, World No.93 Travaglia made a strong comeback in the decider with a 5-3 cushion. While serving for the match, the Italian pocketed the deciding set and earned a second round spot.

Earlier in the day, Kadhe made Sousa work hard for every point in the first two sets, both of which ended in tie-breaks. However, the Indian’s challenge in the singles competition came to an end after the Portuguese took charge of the final set.

Meanwhile, Rohan Bopanna said that the presence of singles players in the doubles events is, in a way, good for the sport as they draw more fans into the stadiums. Bopanna will combine with Ramkumar in the doubles event at the ongoing Tata Open