Ramkumar Ramanathan served big and stroked with intelligence to turn the tide in the nick of time in both sets as he knocked out the champion of the last tournament Stefano Napolitano 7-6(5), 7-6(5) in the first round of the $133,250 Maha Open Challenger tennis tournament at the Balewadi Stadium on Tuesday.
After the champion of the Chennai Challenger, Sumit Nagal, had perspired to a 7-6(6), 6-4 victory over Yu Hsiou Hsu of Chinese Taipei on the centre court, fans stayed on to cheer Ramkumar.
The 28-year-old Ramkumar, who was once ranked 111, as against his current 462, did have a slow start. However, he stepped it up whenever required, especially with his serve.
Ramkumar fired 15 aces and his imaginative stroke play and uncanny sharpness on the big points won him the match against the 204th ranked Italian.
Ramkumar converted one of the nine break points in the match, while Napolitano won one of two break points, early in the match.
A quarterfinalist in Bengaluru last week, Ramkumar will play qualifier Alexey Zakharov in the second round. Sumit will play compatriot NIki Poonacha.
The woes of Sriram Balaji and Andre Begemann of Germany continued in doubles, as the fourth seeds lost their first round, despite having a match point.
“When confidence is low, matches slip from match point. Balaji and partner did not play the tie-breaks well, and their return games could have been better”, observed coach M Balachandran.
The results:
Singles (first round): Sumit Nagal bt Yu Hsiou Hsu (Tpe) 7-6(4), 6-4; Maks Kasnikowski (Pol) bt Seongchan Hong (Kor) 6-4, 6-2; Dane Sweeny (Aus) bt Maxime Janvier (Fra) 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4); Valentin Vacherot (Mon) bt Vasek Pospisil (Can) 6-3, 7-5; Enzo Couacaud (Fra) bt Bernard Tomic (Aus) 6-4, 6-2; Felix Gill (GBr) bt Coleman Wong (Hkg) 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3; Adam Walton (Aus) bt Raphael Collignon (Bel) 7-6(1), 6-2; Alexey Zakharov bt Oliver Crawford (GBr) 7-6(4), 6-3; Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Stefano Napolitano (Ita) 7-6(5), 7-6(5); Tristan Boyer (USA) & Oriol Roca Batalla (Esp) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2; Duje Ajdukovic (Cro) bt Sebastian Fanselow (Ger) 5-7, 7-6(1), 6-3.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Siddhant Banthia & Parikshit Somani bt Luca Margaroli (Sui) & Goncalo Oliveira (Por) 5-7, 7-6(5), [10-5]; Tristan Schoolkate & Adam Walton (Aus) bt Sai Karteek Reddy & Karan Singh 3-6, 6-3, [10-4]; Toshihide Matsui & Kaito Uesugi (Jpn) bt Sriram Balaji & Andre Begemann (GEr) 4-6, 7-6(5), [10-5].
