Top seed Somdev Devvarman struggled past Ramkumar Ramanathan, who was troubled by cramps, but Yuki Bhambri made a fluent start with a straight sets victory in the US$ 50,000 ATP Challenger event, in Chennai.
India's Somdev Devvarman went down to third seed Ukrainian Illya Marchenko 4-6, 3-6 in the second round of the qualifiers as India's campaign ended at the US $3,645,000 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, on Tuesday. Somdev, who overcame David Guez of France in the first round of the qualifying stage, put up a spirited fight against Marchenko but the Ukrainian managed to get better of him.
World number 12 Gilles Simon was still on course for a World Tour Finals spot after thrashing fellow Frenchman David Guez 6-1, 6-2 in the second round of the Lyon Grand Prix on Thursday.
The 'Indo-Pak Express' defeated the French duo of David Guez and Nicolas Tourte 6-2, 7-6(1) in the quarter-finals of the ATP Challenger in Bronx.
Top 10 seeds David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, Stan Wawrinka and Richard Gasquet raced into the second round of the Australian Open on Monday, apparently eager to make the most of relatively mild conditions at Melbourne Park.