Ramkumar Ramanathan ushered in the new year with a rousing performance to defeat Spain’s Marcel Granollers 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to enter the second round of the Tata Open Maharashtra at the Balewadi Stadium here on Tuesday.
It was perhaps the right tonic the sparse but enthusiastic crowd needed after Saketh Myneni, who had come through the qualifying, pulled out of the day’s first match because of a foot injury. Ramkumar ensured fans would go home happy.
“It was a really tough match,” said Ramkumar after the win. “It was the first of the season and Marcel is an experienced player. But I gave everything I had and I am really happy.”
The match was off to a capricious start with three breaks of serve in the first three games. It finally settled when Granollers held for 3-1. Ramkumar, who of late, has increasingly favoured a net-rushing game, served as well as he could, but couldn’t back it up with some smart volleying to make it a winning tactic. Granollers took the set 6-4.
Change in fortunes
The Indian went in for a break, as if to clear his thoughts, and came out for the second set sporting a new T-shirt.
With that changed his fortunes too. He did well to stay with Granollers till 4-4, but appeared to self-destruct by serving two double faults to let his opponent reach 30-30 before serving his way out of trouble.
Granollers, who is predominantly a baseliner, sought to give Ramkumar new problems to solve by often using the serve-and-volley game himself. But it sounded the death knell not once but twice.
Serving at 4-5, 15-15, he approached the net only to see Ramkumar execute a great cross-court pass. Ramkumar attacked a weak second serve to bring about set point before levelling the match with a fine forehand winner.
In the decider, with Granollers serving at 1-2, he tried to hurry Ramkumar twice more but failed; first he had no answer to fierce low return, with the attempted shoe-lace volley crashing into the net.
He again charged forward on break point, but was passed. By then, Ramkumar seemed to have gotten under Granollers’ skin.
After holding to 5-2, the two exchanged glances on the way back to their respective chairs before the Spaniard approached Ramkumar for a word, only to be stopped by the chair umpire.
It however did nothing to break the 24-year-old’s concentration as he romped home.
In doubles, the top seeds Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan were off to a great start, taking down Radu Albot and Malek Jaziri 6-1, 6-2.
The results (first round): Singles: Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Marcel Granollers (Esp) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; Simone Bolelli (Ita) bt Denis Istomin (Uzb) 6-4, 6-4; Ilya Ivashka (Blr) bt Hubert Hurkacz (Pol) 6-7(9), 6-2, 6-3; Ivo Karlovic (Cro) bt Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 7-5; Jiri Vesely (Cze) bt Antoine Hoang (Fra) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; Benoit Paire (Fra) bt Thiago Monteiro (Bra) 7-6 (5), 6-3.
Doubles: Rohan Bopanna & Divij Sharan bt Radu Albot (Mda) & Malek Jaziri (Tun) 6-1, 6-2; Leander Paes & Miguel Angel Rayes-Varela bt David Marrerro (Esp) & Hans Pdlipnil-Castillo (Chi) 6-3, 6-4.