Bengaluru Open: Resilient Ramkumar progresses

Bengaluru, February 12

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Ramkumar Ramanathan fought back from a set down to pack off Frenchman Maxime Janvier 6-7(4) 7-5 6-4 and advance to the second round of the Bengaluru Open here today.

The 29-year-old wild card entrant kept his nerves despite his serve being put under pressure in the opening two sets by his higher ranked opponent to pull off a sensational victory in two hours and 26 minutes.

Also biting the dust on the opening day of the main draw was Croatian third seed Duje Ajdukovic, who was beaten 6-2 6-4 by Tunisia’s Moez Echargui in one hour and 30 minutes.

But the main attraction of the opening day was clearly the faceoff between Ramkumar and Janvier and the former rode on home support to make a winning start.

The opening set was a neck-and-neck battle with Janvier relying on his first serve percentage to put pressure on the Indian.

Ramkumar was again under pressure in the second set and managed to save four break points and then broke Janvier in the 11th game before wrapping the set in the next to force a decider.

With the momentum in his favour, the Indian then broke Janvier early in the third set and then held his service games to wrap up the match.

KSLTA honours Bopanna

The Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) today felicitated two-time Grand Slam champion Rohan Bopanna.

Bopanna, who is world No. 1 in doubles, recently became only the third Indian male player to win a men’s doubles Grand Slam trophy when he triumphed at the Australian Open.

“There were a lot of difficulties in this long journey but I never looked at them in a bad way and knew that my opportunity would come,” Bopanna said. “My parents and sister gave me tremendous support and I wouldn’t have been here without them. A lot of credit goes to everyone who has helped since my younger days and I am grateful to everyone for their part in this journey.”