Ramkumar battles into Round 2

Pune, January 1 

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Ramkumar Ramanathan altered his tactics to tame seasoned Marcel Granollers in a tough opening round match, while Saketh Myneni pulled out of the Tata Open Maharashtra due to a foot injury here on Tuesday.

It was Ramanathan’s first victory over Granollers, who once figured in the top-20 and came into this contest with a 2-0 head-to-head record. From the beginning, Ramanathan, ranked 132, opted for the serve and volley but it was Granollers who executed it better throughout. Realising that it was not working for him, Ramanathan chose to stay at the baseline, while remaining strong on his serve against an opponent ranked 36 places above him.

The strategy worked out as Ramanathan won 4-6 6-4 6-4, his first victory in the main draw of an ATP World Tour event in three months. 

The 24-year-old fired nine aces in the one-hour and 57-minute match. He will next play fourth seed and world No. 45 Malek Jaziri from Tunisia.

Foot injury

Myneni, who entered the main draw after two gruelling qualifying matches, withdrew due to a left-foot injury. “Since Monday morning, it was painful and I could not recover in time for the match,” Myneni said. He clarified that he did not sustain the injury during his second qualifying match.

Doubles success

The top-seeded pair of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan outclassed US Open semifinalists Radu Albot and Malek Jaziri 6-1 6-2 in just 50 minutes. They will now fight it out with Leander Paes and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela, who got the better of David Marrero and Hans Podlipnik-Castillo 6-3 6-4 in 61 minutes.

Prajnesh out

A rusty Prajnesh Gunneswaran was far from his best and was knocked out on Day 1, losing in straight sets to Michael Mmoh. The world No. 110 made too many unforced errors to lose 7-5 6-3 to the world No. 103 from USA.

Steve Darcis, who is coming back from a long injury layoff, knocked out sixth-seeded Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena 6-3 6-4 on Monday to pull off the tournament’s first upset. Russia’s Evgeny Donskoy ousted another Spaniard, eighth seed Pablo Andujar, with a 6-3 5-7 7-6(6) win. — PTI