Busan Open: India's Yuki Bhambri knocked out in straight sets by China's Ze Zhang

Top Indian tennis player Yuki Bhambri was on Thursday knocked out of the Busan Open by China's Ze Zhang while a gritty N Sriram Balaji fought tooth and nail before losing a tight second round to second seed Attila Balazs at Samarkand

Challenger. Second seed Yuki, playing his first tournament after winning the Challenger title at Santaizi in Taiwan, lost 4-6 3-6 to his 265th ranked Chinese opponent to whom he had never lost before. It was the third match between the two players.

Balaji, who had qualified into the main draw, lost 6-7(5) 6-7(3) to his Hungarian challenger after a stiff two-hour four minute battle. Balaji is also competing in the doubles event with Vishnu Vardhan.

Meanwhile, at the Heilbronn Challenger in Germany, India's Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and his Austrian partner Tristan-Samuel Weissborn reached the quarterfinals with a 6-3 6-4 win over Dustin Brown and Darian King.

However, at the Bordeaux Challenger in France, the second seeded pair of Purav Raja and his French partner Fabrice Martin lost their quarterfinal match 3-6 5-7 to Argentine pair of Guillermo Duran and Maximo Gonzalez.