Comeback man Yuki Bhambri impressed with his attacking net play in a straight sets win but Ramkumar Ramanathan’s 23rd attempt at cracking the singles main draw of a grand slam ended in a first round defeat at the Australian Open qualifiers here on Tuesday.

Bhambri, who returned to the grand slam stage after the 2018 US Open, beat 248th ranked Joao Domingues from Portugal 6-4, 6-2 in just 68 minutes.

The 29-year-old Indian’s serve looked decent and he played smartly as he charged at the net to keep the points short.

However, Ramkumar and Ankita Raina’s campaign ended in the first round itself. Ramkumar fought his heart out before losing 3-6, 5-7 to hard-hitting Italian Gian Marco Moroni. Moroni came out with big serves and perfectly-placed winners.

In the women’s singles, Ankita, ranked 203, was blown away by 120th ranked Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko 6-1, 6-0 in just 50 minutes on her birthday. The 29-year-old, however, said he could not win because she was down with Covid-19 before reaching Australia.

“I've not taken the racquet or done any training in the last 14-16 days,” Ankita said.

She said her preparations were hampered since she had to be in quarantine in India before flying out and that she had just one session after reaching Melbourne.