Ramkumar Ramanathan in action against Russia’s Alexander Kudryavtsev in their Chennai Open second round match on Thursday. Ramkumar won 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. — E.K. Sanjay
Continuing his dream run, local boy Ramkumar Ramanathan stormed into the quarter-finals of the ATP Chennai Open tournament here on Thursday.
His 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 result over Russian ‘lucky loser’ Alexander Kudryavtsev helped Ramkumar become only the fourth Indian to reach the last eight stage in the 21-year history of the tournament, emulating the likes of Leander Paes (1998), Somdev Devvarman (2009) and Yuki Bhambri (2014).
Kudryavtsev’s lethargic forehand hit the mesh as Ramkumar, one of three wild card entrants, pumped his fist in fierce celebration. As the significance of the victory sank in, he couldn’t control his tears during the on-court interview. Ramkumar will play last year’s runner-up Aljaz Bedene of Great Britain for a place in the semi-finals.
Earlier, no. 3 seed Benoit Paire booked a spot in the quarter-finals with a hard-fought 7-5, 7-5 victory over Czech Republic’s Lukas Rosol. It was a battle of nerves for Paire, one of the more volatile characters on the Tour. The Frenchman had an argument with the chair umpire over a HawkEye challenge and saw his game slumping before recovering in the 90-minute contest.
From the word go, Paire attacked Rosol with his stinging backhand and raced to a 2-0 lead, but the set was back on serve at 4-4, a game after Paire threw an on-court tantrum.
Paire admitted that he was nervous during his first match of the season. “I was not happy with the umpire’s decision (to allow Rosol challenge a line call after a ‘considerable delay’). It’s okay, I tend to argue with the umpire and it’s never easy for me,” added Paire, last ATP season’s comeback player awardee for climbing from 118 to no. 19 in world ranking. Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller rifled in a match total of 14 aces, but it wasn’t enough for him to beat qualifier Fabbiano on the outside court. Muller, the sixth seed, lost 4-6, 5-7 in just over an hour.
Granollers-Paes pull out Meanwhile, Paes’ campaign in the doubles came to a premature end as his Spanish partner Marcel Granollers went down with an illness. The pair announced their pull-out ahead of the quarter-finals.
“It’s disappointing not to be able to play in front of home crowd. I fell for Marcel and wish him a speedy recovery ahead of the Australian Open,” said Paes.
