Yuki Bhambri bows out of Delhi Open in first round

Top seed Yuki Bhambri looked a pale shadow of his usual self as he exited from the singles event of the Delhi Open with a first round defeat but advanced to the doubles quarterfinals with seasoned pro Mahesh Bhupathi here on Tuesday.

It was the fourth successive first round defeat this season for the Delhi lad, who lost 4-6 6-7(4) to Belgium's Joris de Loore, ranked 302 as to Yuki's 99. 

In the singles, national champion N Sriram Balaji and fellow wild card entrant N Vijay Sundar Prashanth also lost in the first round. Balaji lost 6-7 (4) 3-6 to seventh seed Chinese Yan Bai, while Prashanth suffered defeat against Taipiei's Jimmy Wang.

In the battles of the Indians, Prajnesh Gunneswaran won 6-4 6-4 against Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and qualifier Vishnu Vardhan expectedly thrashed Adil Kalyanpur 6-1 6-1. Adil had entered the event after winning the Rendez-Vous event. Vardhan will next take on Chinese Zhi Li, who knocked out fifth seed Yannick Mertens 4-6 6-3 6-4, and Prajnesh will clash with Yan Bai.

In the women's event being played simultaneously, India's number one singles player Ankita Raina beat compatriot Prerna Bhambri 6-1 7-6.