Pune: On Tuesday, top-seeded pair of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan has registered a dominating first round win on Day Two of Tata Open Maharashtra here at Mhalunge Balewadi Tennis Stadium. The Indian pair outclassed Radu Albot-Malek Jaziri pair 6-1, 6-2 to live up to their top billing at India's only ATP World Tour event.
Playing on Court 1, the Asian Games gold-medal winning duo took less than an hour to move to the second round dispatching the Moldova-Tunisian pair. In second round, Bopanna-Divij will take on Indo-Mexican pair of L Paes/ M. Reyes-Varela that beat D. Marrero/ H. Podlipnik-Castillo 6-3, 6-4.
In the third match at the Centre Court, perhaps the most exciting one of the Day 2, Ramkumar Ramanathan took on Spain's Marcel Granollers in what was their second ATP Tour meeting.
Granollers broke Ramanthan in the first game itself. The Indian came back breaking his opponent's first serve too. But Granollers took the initiative breaking Ramanathan second time and maintained his grip on the 1st set winning it 6-4 in 35 minutes.
But Ramanathan was determined to stay alive. With a more controlled game, the 24-year old sealed the second set 6-4 breaking the 32-year old in the tenth game to take the match to decide. Ramanthan will now take on fourth-seeded Jaziri in 2nd round on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, India's Saketh Myneni, who entered the main draw after two gruelling qualifying matches, withdrew due to a foot injury.