Yuki Bhambri made a confident start at the ATP Shanghai Challenger event with a straight-set victory but Somdev Devvarman yet again crashed out in the first round, here today.
The fourth seed Yuki saw off the challenge of local wild card Zhizhen Zhang 6-2 6-2 in the opening round of the USD 50,000 hard court tournament.
His next opponent is also from China, Ze Zhang. Sixth seed Somdev lost 4-6 6-2 4-6 to Colombia's Nicolas Barrientos, who is ranked as low as 258.
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But he drew compatriot and doubles partner Saketh Myneni as his first round rival.
Myneni and Balaji made it to the doubles quarterfinals with a 2-6 6-2 10-6 win over Zhe Li and Hiroki Moriya.