Thompson, Bhambri start with easy wins

Press Trust of India  |  Chennai 

Top-seed of and second-seed of advanced with straight set wins today in the Chennai Open ATP Challenger tournament here. While Thompson beatMohamed Maamoun of 6-4, 6-2, Bhambri got past of 6-1, 7-6. Bhambri blew away the Spaniard's challenge in the first set, winning it 6-1 in quick time. He broke thrice and dominated the proceedings with strongserves and punishing ground strokes. In the second set the Spaniard recovered well and played with much more intensity.

Both players traded a break before the set moved to the tiebreak which Bhambri won 7-3. In the other match, Thompsonwas broken twice but he broke back thrice to take the first set 6-4. In the second set also, he broke Karim thrice to win it 6-2. In a surprise result, local ladAbhinav SanjeevShanmugam, a qualifier, moved into the second round when of retired due to stomach MartinezPedro of beat local lad Prajnesh Gunneswaran, the eighth seed 6-1, 6-4. Results (Indians unless stated): Mens Singles (first round): JordanThompson (1) bt (EGY)6-4, 6-2;(SRB) bt 6-4, 6-2;bt (ESP) 6-1, 7-6(3), Pedri Martinez (ESP) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran (8) 6-1, 6-4; Abhinav Shanjeev Shanmugam bt (RUS) 3-6, 5-4 (Retd.) Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN-6) bt (AUS)6-1, 7-6(5); CemIlkel (TUR) bt (KAZ)4-6, 7-6(6), 6-2. (ESP-7) bt Kimmer Coppejans (BEL) 7-5, 6-4. Mens Doubles: CemIlkel (TUR) / (SRB) by (ESP) / Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN-3) 7-5, 6-3; KunalAnand (IND)/Anvit Bendrebt (SRB) / (RUS) 2-0 retired. Prajnesh Gunneswaran/N (IND) bt Arjun Kadhe/Dhakshineswar Suresh 7-6(3), 6-1; Tuna Altuna (TUR)/(EGY) bt (ESP)/ Sumit Nagal 6-3 retired. (ITA)/Kimmer Coppejans (BEL) bt (MON)/(AUS) 6-2, 6-3.

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First Published: Tue, February 13 2018. 19:55 IST