Ramkumar Ramanathan was knocked out of the French Open Qualifying tournament by 18-year-old French player Sean Cuenin.
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Ramkumar Ramanathan, ranked 178th, had knocked out ninth seed and world number 114, Yannick Hanfmann from Germany in the opening round of the French Open qualifiers but could not sustain the momentum. Ramanathan was knocked out of the French Open Qualifying tournament by 18-year-old French player Sean Cuenin in straight sets on Wednesday, therefore ending India’s singles bid at the big event in Paris. Ramkumar’s 6-7 (6) 4-6 defeat against a player, who is ranked 595, means that none of India’s singles players will compete in the main draw of the Clay Court Grand Slam.
Both players got off to a good start in the game, as they won their initial two service games. In the fifth game, Ramanathan broke Cuenin for the first time in the match, gaining a 3-2 lead. However, Ramanathan’s lead was short-lived as Cuenin produced a strong recovery to break the Indian in the following game of the match, bringing the score to 3-3. The neck-and-neck fight continued, forcing the opening set into a tie-breaker. Both players resumed their fierce combat in the tie-breaker. Cuenin, on the other hand, won the tie-breaker 8-6, putting him ahead in the match.
Both players held on to their serves in the second set as well, as they remained 3-3 after six games. Cuenin ultimately broke Ramanathan in the eighth game to grab the lead. Cuenin won the match with a single break and went on to win the set 6-4.
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Sumit Nagal and Yuki Bhambri have already departed the clay court major qualification round. Nagal, who has returned to competitive tennis after undergoing surgery, had previously lost to Argentina’s Pedro Cachin (ranked 152). Bhambri, who is also on a comeback path, was defeated by Altug Celikbilek (183) of Turkey 3-6 5-7. The Singles Draw as always is of 128 Players. The 104 highest-ranked men and women that sign up for the French Open automatically qualify for the Grand Slam Main Draw. 16 players from the qualifiers will join them while there will be 8 wildcard entrants.
The 18-year-old French advances to the third round of qualifications and is one step closer to joining the main draw of a Grand Slam event for the first time. Meanwhile, Ramathan will have to wait much longer to make his Grand Slam main draw debut.
The French Open 2022 will start on Sunday may 22.
