French Open qualifiers: Ramkumar out in 2nd round

PARIS: Ramkumar Ramanathan bowed out of the French Open qualifiers in the second round after a straight-set defeat to French player Sean Cuenin here on Wednesday. Ramkumar’s 6-7(6), 4-6 defeat to World No. 595 Cuenin brought the curtains down on India’s singles challenge at the clay-court Grand Slam. The 178th-ranked Ramkumar had knocked out Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann 6-3, 6-2 in the opening round, but could not sustain the momentum. Sumit Nagal and Yuki Bhambri had exited from the qualifying event in the first round itself. While Nagal lost 2-6, 2-6 to Pedro Cachin from Argentina, Bhambri went down 3-6, 5-7 to Turkey’s Altug Celikbilek.