Bengaluru Open: Ramkumar lives to fight another day

Rohan Bopanna, who won the Australian Open doubles title for his maiden men’s Grand Slam, was by felicitated by KSLTA.

Bengaluru: Entering the DafaNews Bengaluru Open as a wild card entrant, Ramkumar Ramanathan was desperate to make an impression. And he managed to do exactly that by saving a couple of match points to win against a player ranked 203 places above. 

With a sizable crowd at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) cheering on the Indian, the 29-year-old crossed the first hurdle by overcoming France’s Maxime Janvier 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 6-4. 

Ramkumar, who mostly relied on his first serve throughout the match, began on a positive note by going ahead 3-1 when Janvier double faulted to hand the Indian a break. But the Frenchman broke back in the seventh game before both the players held serves for the opening set to go to the tie-breaker. 

Ramkumar quickly went ahead 4-1 but Janvier snatched the momentum by taking the next six points in a row to win the first set. 

It was the ninth game in the second set when things got interesting. Ramkumar was serving 0-40 down while trailing 4-5 but Ramkumar held on to save all three match points. A few deuces and advantages were exchanged before a battling Ramkumar levelled the score 5-5. 

Having survived by the skin of his teeth, Ramkumar won the second 7-5 while Janvier was left wondering about the lost opportunity. With one player riding high on confidence and the other fuming, Ramkumar cashed in on the unforced errors coming from the racket of Janvier to seal the third set 6-4 and the match. 

On the other court, a battle of temperament ensued. Moez Echargui of Tunisia kept his cool to cause the first upset of the tournament when he took out the third-seeded Duje Ajdukovic of Croatia. 

It looked like the World No. 287 Echargui came well prepared to face his opponents’ (ranked 125) superior groundstrokes and on-court tantrums.

While Ajdukovic’s throwing of racket and shouts of frustration echoed within the stadium, Echargui blocked out the unnecessary noise with poise to eke out a 6-2, 6-4 win. 

The third main draw singles of the day saw Belgium’s Gauthier Onclin secure a hard-fought 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (5) victory over Italy’s Giovanni Fonio. 

Results: Main draw (prefix denotes seeding, Indians unless mentioned): Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Maxime Janvier (Fra) 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-4; Moez Echargui (Tun) bt 3-Duje Ajdukovic (Cro) 6-2, 6-4; Gauthier Onclin (Bel) bt Giovanni Fonio (Ita) 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (5).

Qualifying: 1-Bernand Tomic (Aus) bt Jonas Forejtek (CZE) 6-4, 6-2; 3-Chun-Hsin Tseng (Tpe) bt Yun Seong Chung (Kor) 7-5, 4-6, 6-2; 4-S Vincent Ruggeri (Ita) bt K Van Wyk (RSA) 6-0, 6-2.