Liam Broady vs Christopher O'Connell time at Indian Wells Masters after Ramanathan win

Stockport tennis star Liam Broady opened his campaign to qualify for Tennis's 'fifth' slam, the BNP Paribas Masters in Indian Wells, California, with a win over Indian Ramkumar Ramanathan to set up a match with Christopher O'Connell.

Broady has already recorded a hat-trick of qualifying successes on the big stage this year, by following his qualification for the Australian Open by also winning through to ATP 250 main draws in Dallas and Delray Beach.

This was Broady's first match back after a toe injury hampered his progress in the Delray Beach event, and he started like a house on fire, putting pressure on his Indian opponent from the outset. Broady brought up a break point in Ramanathan's second service game, but whilst the 27 year old extricated himself from that tight spot, he wasn't able to do it again in the fifth game as Broady took advantage of a second serve to bring up the game's opening break.

Broady was holding huge authority and won a straight sixteen points in the first set without dropping a single one, and he reinforced his advantage by breaking and holding again to seal a comfortable first set 6-2.

Ramanathan was clearly determined to start the second set better and was attempting to get to the net behind every first serve in an effort to re-assert some authority.

A marathon first game saw him fight off two more breakpoints whilst being denied four times on his own game point before finally pumping his fist as he was able to chalk up the opening game.

Broady had shown remarkable consistency to win the first 22 points on his own serve, so it was a major shock when Ramanathan went from 30-0 down to breaking Broady's serve to bring up a 3-1 lead.

Broady returned to holding with confidence but Ramanathan was