Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
For Quick Alerts
ALLOW NOTIFICATIONS  
For Daily Alerts

Ramkumar reaches career high 115 despite defeat in final

The Chennai-based player jumped 46 places up from his previous position of 161 after his Newport heroics, where he lost to America's world no 48 Steve Johnson 5-7, 6-3, 2-6 in a thrilling final.

Ramkumar Ramanathan

Bengaluru, July 23: After a stupendous run in the Hall of Fame Open grass-court tennis tournament in Rhode Island, Newport, where he lost in the finals, India's Ramkumar Ramanathan reached a career-high 115 in the latest ATP World Tour rankings released on Monday (July 23).

The Chennai-based player jumped 46 places up from his previous position of 161 after his Newport heroics, where he lost to America's world no 48 Steve Johnson 5-7, 6-3, 2-6 in a thrilling three-set final.

Ramkumar, who had defeated American Tim Smyczek 6-4, 7-5 in the semifinals en route to reaching his maiden ATP World Tour 250 Series tournament final, had raised visions of a first Indian winner on the Tour.

But the Barcelona-based lad came up short against his much superior opponent in a tough battle which lasted almost two hours as India's long wait for a winner on the ATP World Tour continues.

"I am going to keep going, giving my best, and next time I am going to win the title," Ramkumar said after the match.

For his 28-year-old American opponent, it was his fourth career ATP title and second of the season.

Nevertheless, it was a gritty performance from the 23-year-old, who became the first Indian since Somdev Devvarman to reach the final of a ATP World Tour event since 2011.

Like Ramkumar, Devvarman too had ended up on the losing side, as he had gone down to this year's Wimbledon finalist Kevin Anderson in the 2011 Johannesburg Open final.

Ramkumar was 1-2 this year in ATP events until this week, and was on a five-match losing sequence, including the qualifiers at Wimbledon.

In the first round, the Chennai lad beat Dominican Victor Burgos 6-4, 6-1 and followed it up with a big win over American eighth seed Denis Kudla 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round to set up the clash with the Canadian Vasek Pospisil, another higher-ranked player, which he won 7-5, 6-2.

Despite the defeat in the final, Ramkumar's performance will boost his confidence for the rest of the season and it was quite eveident in his words.

"It means a lot to me. Every match was very tough," Ramanthan said about reaching the final.

"I think the second match against Kudla was very tough. I pulled that out. On grass anything can happen. A few points here and there can change everything. I think I was composed and felt very well."

Story first published: Monday, July 23, 2018, 12:49 [IST]
Other articles published on Jul 23, 2018