Leander Paes and Purav Raja started off their campaign at the Association of Tennis Professionals St Petersburg Open on a winning note on Wednesday. The unseeded duo won their first-round match against the Italian-American team of Fabio Fognini and James Cerretani in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in 67 minutes.

Fognini and Cerretani had a count of two aces and seven double faults, while Paes and Raja had no aces or double faults. The Indian team won 75% points off their first serves to their opponents’ 72%. The biggest separator in the match, between the two teams, was the percentage of points won off second serves.

The Indians won 63% points off their second serves, while Fognini and Cerretani could only manage to win 33% of their second service points. In terms of break point conversion, Paes and Raja converted four of the 10 break points that came their way, while going on to save three of the five break points they faced on their serves.

In the quarter-finals, they will now face the fourth-seeded Kiwi-Brazilian team of Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner. Daniell and Demoliner defeated the Austrian team of Julian Knowle and Alexander Peya in their first-round match, 3-6, 6-4, 10-6.

Contrasting results in ATP Columbus Challenger

It was a day of contrasting results for the top-two Indian singles players at the Columbus Challenger in Ohio, United States.

Indian No 1 Ramkumar Ramanathan secured a tight win over America’s Sekou Bangoura in the first round. The second seed won in straight sets 7-6(7), 6-4 in little over two hours, but it wasn’t before his 379th ranked opponent put up a resilient showing.

The first set had Ramkumar break twice with the chance to serve out the set, but on both occasions, the Indian was broken right back. In the equally oscillating tie-break, Ramkumar wrested the lead by winning the tie-break 9-7.

The second set also had the players exchange a couple of service breaks, before Ramkumar secured the win. In the second round, Ramkumar will play Canada’s Filip Peliwo.

It was a tough outing for the second-ranked Indian Yuki Bhambri. The world No 157 was forced to retire mid-match in his opener against Dominican Republic’s Jose Hernandez-Fernandez. At the time of Bhambri pulling out of the match, Hernandez-Fernandez was leading 4-6, 7-6(5), 2-0.

Lastly, in the first round of men’s doubles, the unseeded Indian duo of Ramkumar and Prajnesh Gunneswaran went down fighting to the second-seeded American team of Brydan Klein and Joe Salisbury. The Americans won in straight sets 7-5, 7-5.

The Indians had four break points, but could only convert one even as they were broken once each across each set, which ensured the Americans’ win after 75 minutes of play.

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