Abu Dhabi - Emirates Voice
India's Yuki Bhambri produced one of the best performances of his career and stunned world No.16 and defending champion Gael Monfils in a tough three-setter to enter the third round of the ATP Citi Open.
Bhambri, who had qualified for the main draw of the ATP 500 tournament, took one hour and 51 minutes to register the 6-3 4-6 7-5 upset win over the sixth-seeded Frenchman to enter the round of 16.
Bhambri will next be up against Guido Pella of Argentina.
Pella, who had shown the door to another Indian Ramkumar Ramanathan in the opening round, defeated Mischa Zverev of Germany 6-7(5) 7-6(2) 6-3 in the second round.
It was good news for India in the men's doubles as well with Rohan Bopanna and his partner Donald Young of USA overcoming their opening hurdle.
Wildcard entrants Bopanna and Young shrugged off the challenge of Canadian Daniel Nestor and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan in straight sets.
Bopanna and Young hardly broke a sweat to get the better of Nestor and Qureshi 6-2 6-3 to seal their place in the quarterfinals of the USD 1,750,080 event.
However, a Herculean task awaits Bopanna and Young as they take on fourth-seeded American brothers, Bob and Mike Bryan in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, injuries continued to plague Australian Nick Kyrgios, who retired with a shoulder injury while losing 6-3 3-0 to American Tenny Sandgren and left the court to a chorus of boos.
It marked the third successive tournament in which the 22-year-old retired during a match.
Kyrgios, playing his first tournament since he retired in the first round of Wimbledon due to a chronic hip injury, said mental problems and physical struggles had hurt his preparations.
"Just struggling, mentally, physically," Kyrgios told reporters later.
He had called out the medical trainer for treatment on his shoulder before retiring and looked in obvious discomfort.
Kyrgios was playing in the second round after receiving an opening round bye and was seeded to play Germany's Alexander Zverev in a keenly anticipated third-round match.
Earlier, 20-year-old Zverev needed three sets to overcome serve-and-volleyer Jordan Thompson 4-6 6-3 7-6(5) to advance as the Australian dropped the last three points of the decisive tiebreaker including his first double fault of the match.
"I'm just happy to get through that one," said the fifth-seeded German, a three-time winner this year.
Canada's big-serving Milos Raonic triumphed 7-6(2) 7-6(8) in a hard-fought match against France's Nicolas Mahut and set a tournament record with a 151 miles per hour rocket among his 26 aces.
Raonic, the 2014 winner, is looking for his first 2017 title.
"It's a big chance to turn things around," he said.
On the women's side, French second seed Kristina Mladenovic needed nearly two and a half hours in her first match, winning five of the last six games to beat Germany's Tatjana Maria 7-5 3-6 6-3.
Canada's unseeded Eugenie Bouchard scored her first win since Roland Garros with a 7-6(6) 6-0 win over eighth-seeded American Christina McHale.
Source: Khaleej Times