India's singles challenge ends at Atlanta Open with Ramanathan ouster

After the high of Hall of Fame Open, India's Ramkumar Ramanathan made a first round exit from the ATP Atlanata Open singles while veteran Leander Paes too was ousted from the US$748450 hard court tournament.

Leander Paes and his partner James Cerretani also exited the tournament after losing in the opening round. Photograph: PTI/File

Ramkumar, who ended a runner-up at the Newport event last week, lost 4-6, 4-6 to American Taylor Fritz.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran has already lost his first round to Slovakia's Lukas Lacko, thus Indian challenge ended at the tournament.

In the doubles, Paes and his American partner James Cerretani lost their opener 5-7, 1-6 to American pair of Mike Bryan and Frances Tiafoe.

Purav Raja and Ken Skupski though had advanced to the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Ricardas Berankis and Malek Jaziri. Top seeded Divij Sharan and Artem Sitak are up against Romen Arneodo and Jeremy Chardy.