Leander, Purav win doubles; Ramkumar moves on, Bhambri exits

Moscow, September 21: Leander Paes and Purav Raja started their campaign at the St Petersburg Open on a winning note against the Italian-American team of Fabio Fognini and James Cerretani 6-3, 6-4.

Fognini and Cerretani had a count of two aces and seven double faults, while Paes and Raja had no aces or double faults.

The Indian team won 75% points off their first serves to their opponents' 72%.

The biggest separator in the match, between the two teams, was the percentage of points won off second serves.

The Indians won 63% points off their second serves, while Fognini and Cerretani could only manage to win 33%.

In the quarterfinals, they will now face the fourth-seeded Kiwi-Brazilian team of Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner.

In the Columbus Challenger in Ohio, United States, India No 1 Ramkumar Ramanathan secured a tight win over America's Sekou Bangoura in the first round. The second seed won 7-6 (7), 6-4.

It was a tough outing for the second-ranked Indian Yuki Bhambri.

The world No 157 was forced to retire mid-match in his opener against Dominican Republic's Jose Hernandez-Fernandez.

At the time of Bhambri pulling out of the match, Hernandez-Fernandez was leading 4-6, 7-6 (5), 2-0.

In the first round of men's doubles, the unseeded Indian duo of Ramkumar and Prajnesh Gunneswaran went down fighting to the second-seeded American team of Brydan Klein and Joe Salisbury. The Americans won 7-5, 7-5.