Ramkumar ousted from Shenzhen Challenger

India's Ramkumar Ramanathan was knocked out of the singles event of the Shenzhen Challenger tournament in China but advanced to the men's doubles quarterfinals with compatriot Saketh Myneni on Wednesday.

In his first ever meeting against Mohamed Sawat, the Indian ranked 121, lost the tight second round contest 6-7 (3) 4-6 to his Egyptian rival, ranked 202.

With his defeat, qualifier Sasi Kumar Mukund is the only Indian left in the singles draw. He will play against eighth seed Canadian Filip Peliwo on Thursday.

Ramkumar and Myneni advanced to last-eight pairs stage with a 6-3 3-6 10-8 win over third seeds Mao-Xin Gong and Ze Zhang.

Also winning their opening round were top seeded Indians Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and N Sriram Balaji, who defeated Safwat and Aleksandr Nedovysov 7-5 2-6 10-7.

At the Rolex Masters in Paris, India's Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin defeated Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop 7-6(3) 5-7 10-5 to progress to the second round.