Maharashtra Open 2023: Ramkumar Ramanathan reaches to the the singles main draw

Ramkumar Ramanathan successfully made it to the second round of the men's singles qualifiers of the Maharashtra Open 2023 at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune on Sunday.

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In tennis, it was a mixed day for the Indian players at the Maharashtra Open 2023 ATP 250 tennis tournament in Pune yesterday. Yuki Bhambri and Ramkumar Ramanathan successfully made it to the second round of the men's singles qualifiers. But Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Siddharth Rawat and Aditya Vishal Balsekar bowed out after losing their first round qualifying matches.

Ramkumar Ramanathan beat Mattia Bellucci to enter the second round. The 28-year-old came into the ATP 250 tennis tournament as a wildcard entry. He put up a spectacular show in the final round of the qualifiers. Ramkumar secured a comfortable 6-3, 7-5 win over the third seeded Italian. Ramanathan will be the fourth Indian to feature in the singles main draw at the ongoing edition of South Asia's only ATP 250 event, which is being conducted by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) in Pune.

Meanwhile, India's top singles player Mukund Sasikumar will begin his campaign in the main draw along with wild card holder Sumit Nagal. 15-year-old rising star Manas Dhamne, whose entry was decided on Friday, is set to kickstart India's challenge in the main draw on Monday. He will take on the American player Michael Mmoh in the singles opening round match. While Rohan Bopanna, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Arjun Kadhe will also feature in the doubles event.

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Maximilian Marterer and Flavio Cobolli were the other two players to progress into the main event through the qualifiers. While Marterer beat Nikola Milojevic 6-2, 6-3, Cobolli got the better of Zdenek Kolar by 6-4, 6-4. The 2023 edition began in December-January as the Australian Open Grand Slam begins on January 16. Maharashtra Open 2023 will conclude on 7th January.