Both players lost their preliminary qualifying match for the grass Major in straight sets.
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Bhambri (left) fell to Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles 5-7, 1-6, while Ramanathan (right) was downed by czech Republic’s Vit Kopriva 5-7, 4-6.
India No. 1 Ramkumar Ramanathan and Yuki Bhambri were both eliminated in the first qualification round for Wimbledon on Monday.
Bhambri fell to Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles 5-7, 1-6, while Ramanathan was downed by Czech Republic’s Vit Kopriva 5-7, 4-6.
Bhambri got off to a flying start in his match, getting an early break and finding himself in a 5-3 lead in the first set. Miralles, however, managed to get the break back immediately, and after fending off two set points on his serve in the next game, he went on to win 10 of the next 11 games to eliminate the Indian from the event.
The 29-year-old, who got entry into the qualifying draw thank to an injury protected ranking (PR), was handed a tough draw considering Miralles’ remarkable recent results. The Spaniard went from qualifying all the way to the fourth round at the French Open last month, defeating Americans Taylor Fritz and John Isner before losing to Alexander Zverev. He is ranked 90th in the world and faces France’s Antoine Hoang next.
Ramanathan, on the other hand, took on 19th seed Kopriva, who had made headlines last year when he beat Denis Shapovalov en route to the semifinals on the claycourts of Gstaad. The match got off to a nervy start with both players trading breaks early in the first set.
After losing the first set and despite going into a 3-1 lead in the second, Ramanathan lost five of the last six games of the match to hand control of proceedings to Kopriva, who will take on Austria’s Sebastian Ofner next.
Sania Mirza, in her last year on tour, is the only remaining Indian confirmed to feature at SW19 this year. The 35-year-old enters the women’s doubles main draw alongside Czech Republic’s Lucie Hradecka.
