Ramkumar Ramanathan storms into Chennai Open quarters

ByArun S Kaimal, SportsCafe Editor

01/07/2016

Ramkumar Ramanathan’s unbeaten run in front of the home crowd continued as he stormed his way into the quarterfinals of the Men’s singles competition of the Chennai Open on Thursday after an upset victory over Alexander Kudryavtsev.

Wild card Ramkumar Ramanathan, who is ranked 248 in the world, produced another gutsy performance in the SDAT stadium in Chennai to register a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over the higher-ranked Russian.

The Chennai lad started the match sluggishly to go down 3-6 in the first set after a series of unforced errors brought his downfall. With a vociferous crowd egging him on, Ramanathan upped his game in the second set to clinch it 6-4. The 21-year old Indian matched into the quarters after pocketing the third set 6-4 courtesy a flurry of unforced errors from the 164th ranked Russian.

"I was going too fast. I was making him play. Got the confidence through the third set. Alexander is a great player, goes for his shots. He made me run, it was not easy but I found my way," said Ramkumar after the win, reported PTI.

Ramanathan, who won two ITF Futures titles at the end of the 2015 season in Gwalior and Mumbai, took his unbeaten run of games to 12 after registering a second upset victory on the trot in front of the home crowd. Ramanathan had beaten World number 98 Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the first round of the Men’s Singles event on Tuesday.

In the Men’s Doubles event, veteran Leander Paes was forced to withdraw from the tournament after his partner Marcel Granollers picked up an injury.

BREAKING: @M_Granollers & @Leander withdraw from #ACO2016 Doubles as the Spaniard is suffering from an illness
— Aircel Chennai Open (@chennaiopen) January 7, 2016

The second seeded pair was scheduled to take on Austin Krajicek and Benot Paire in the quarterfinals later today.

Unfortunate we had to pull out today. I wish Marcel a speedy recovery & hope to be back next year to win my 7th Chennai Open. #LionHeart
— Leander Paes (@Leander) January 7, 2016