Tournament top seed Richard Gasquet of France had no problems in disposing off his long-time nemesis Kristof Vliegen of France beating him 6-1,6-2.
MUMBAI: Teenager Yuki Bhambri fought two tough rivals and cramps in a single day before going down with his guns blazing in the third and qualifying round of the USD 4,16,000 Kingfisher Airlines Mumbai Tennis Open here on Monday.
The 15-year-old Delhi boy vanquished his Czech rival Frantisek Cermak, ranked 923 places ahead of him, in threesets in the morning and then was on the brink of an amazing victory over compatriot and more experienced rival Navdeep Singh before cramps got the better of his physical resources and he got pipped at the post.
Navdeep won 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4), after staring defeat when Bhambri served for the match twice at 5-4 and 6-5, in just over two and a half hours.
The former junior national champion also became the third Indian to make the tournament proper after Rohan Bopanna and Somdev Varman who have secured wild cards into the 32-man singles main draw.
Tournament top seed Richard Gasquet of France had no problems in disposing off his long-time nemesis Kristof Vliegen of France, who had beaten him in the French Open earlier this year, whipping his rival 6-1, 6-2 in just 52 minutes with a string of blazing winners on both flanks in a first round encounter of the main draw.
The match of the day was the final qualifying stage all- India contest between Bhambri and Navdeep which was played on an outside court.
"I would have won surely had I not suffered cramps. It was difficult to play two three setters, including two tie- breaks, in these conditions and I have realized how important fitness is by looking at the other players who are all well-built," said Bhambri after his loss to Navdeep.
Bhambri, who defeated Czech Cermak, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 with part of the match carried over from yesterday because of rains and had to come back on court after a one hour break and take on Navdeep, who is ranked 817 to his own 1491.
Incidentally the 31-year-old, Czech has won three ATP titles out of seven final appearances and is ranked 568 above the frail-looking Indian boy.
Navdeep credited Bhambri for playing so well and said he was a very talented player and the best of his age in the country.
"He's a very talented player and best of his age in the country. Towards the end he developed cramps and went for his shots by hitting forehand winners," Navdeep said.
"I thought I played as well as I did yesterday (against Lars Burgsmuller, seeded second in the qualifiers) in the first set. But then I suddenly felt weak probably due to the weather, but managed to hang on somehow and win in the end," he said.
Navdeep's double fault tally of 5 compared favourably with his rival's eleven. He took the first set in 40 minutes after going up 3-1 which was squared by his rival, dropped the second after Bhambri broke twice early to take a commanding 4-0 lead.
He was then broken by Bhambri in the fifth game of the decider to trail 2-3 and then 4-5 when he started his great fight-back.
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French youngster Gasquet fired eight aces in his tieagainst Vliegen, the 80th-ranked player to whom he had lost on three occasions coming into this tournament.
The 21-year-old French no one, world no 14 currently, broke his rival twice in the opening set, firing in three aces too after his first break in the fourth to hold serve in the next, to take the first set in a mere 19 minutes.
Gasquet took a 3-2 lead in the second with a break of serve and then went up 5-2 with another break before clinching the set and the match 6-2.
Baby Federer, said later that it was good to get such an easy first round encounter against a player who had troubled him in the past.
He will meet the winner of the tie between Fabric Fognini and Varman in the second round.
In the only other main draw fixture which was completed till rains stopped play again, Germany's Bjorn Phau outlasted Wesley Moodie of South Africa 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 and awaits the winner of the clash between sixth seed Stefan Koubek and Chile's unseeded Pau Cardeville in the round of 16.
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