Ramkumar suffers shock first-round defeat at Binghamton Challenger

Ramkumar Ramanathan squandered a one-set advantage to lose to lower-ranked American wild card, Alexander Ritschard, for a first- round exit from the Binghamton Challenger event here.

The second seeded Indian, who got a first-round bye, lost 6-2 6-7(3) 2-6 to the 443rd ranked American in the second round of the USD 54160 hard court tournament.

Enjoying a career-best singles rank of 167 and coming into the event in good form, it was a surprise defeat for the Indian.

He had ended runner-up at the Surbiton Trophy Challenger and won the Guzzini Challenger in Italy recently.