Cincinnati Masters: 'Odd-couple' Leander Paes-Alexander Zverev bow out; Ramkumar Ramanathan advances

Cincinnati: World No 7 Alexander Zverev on Tuesday, paired with Indian doubles legend Leander Paes for the first time in this year’s tournament to make a particularly ‘odd couple’. [caption id=“attachment_3935725” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Alexander Zverev and Leander Paes in action in the opening round of the Cincinnati Masters. AFP[/caption] The 20-year-old German singles specialist and the 44-year-old Paes lost to Spain’s Feliciano and Marc Lopez 2-6, 7-6 (7/2), 10-6, in a jam-packed outer stadium match. “He needs someone very high ranked to get in those tournaments. He asked me if I can help him out, I’m like, yeah, sure,” Zverev said. “I know him quite well. He’s a good guy. Unfortunately we lost, but it was fun.” But, Zverev insisted that his doubles appearances will be “not very often.” Meanwhile, in the first round of the men’s singles event, India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan beat United States qualifier Christopher Eubanks 6-7(5/7), 6-1, 6-4 in a match that lasted 107 minutes. Ramanathan rallied from one-set down to seal the match with a volley followed by a simple push into the vacant court.

Lucky loser keeps getting luckier!@ramkumar 1994 makes his way into the @CincyTennis second round.#CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/m1lyG8AjLq

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 15, 2017

Though Ramanathan lost to Germany’s Maximilian Marterer in the final qualifier, he made the cut to the main draw of Cincinnati Masters after Frenchman Gael Monfils withdrew from the tournament citing illness. In the second round, ’lucky loser’ Ramanathan will face American Jared Donaldson who took down 12th seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(7/5), 6-3. With inputs from AFP