$50K(+H) Pune/$100K(+H) Bengaluru Challengers Nov 13-26, 2017

[jayakris]

Yuki at 46 63 54 and RamK to serve... What??? Now? Medical timeout, or bathroom break? Where did he go? What are you doing Yuki?? Ah, damn... The live stream says medical timeout, but YB is back on court now after 3-4 minutes. Must have been something minor.

Live stream dies just when it mattered most. 30-30... Douvle fault gives Yuki a match pt. And he wins it!! Congrats

(3) Yuki Bhambri (IND) d. (4) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) 46 63 64.

[Prashant]

I would love to follow one major match where Yuki does not take a medical timeout. I think he builds it into his routine.

[sanjay5goel]

Now Ramk has something to crib about - that Yuki took the break to disturb his rythm.

[bujilover]

Great win for Yuki! Now I hope he does not withdraw from Bangalore. He has an easy draw to reach QF.

[Mohit Dahiya 2345]

Ramk never had a chance in this match to be honest and once Yuki started to play his steady tennis ramk was no match to it . Would love to see Yuki win the next one too

[fabshab]

Being a little basuistic i wanna say.....

Hey, you coined a new word... "Basuistic"... haha

Hahaha...yea
Yuki downs the 1st one
Waiting for back to back titles

[jayakris]

Only been watching since start of third set, and that too when the stream works. But, it seems like Yuki is playing very much his normal game, constructing points, while RamK has a more go-for-broke approach, trying to hit big serves & quick winners.

Precisely. This is all I saw too, ever since I got up at 4 am and saw the final point of the first set when I turned the stream on. Yuki was playing his normal game, and very cleanly too, but RamK had completely let Yuki get into his brain, and cause havoc. RamK just could not play his smooth game at all. Constantly going for broke. But then again, he may have been right that he had no chance otherwise, if Yuki were to play his clean game. I mean, there was not a point that went longer than 5 shots that RamK could win in the final two sets that I saw. Not a chance on any ground stroke exchange. RamK would try to move up and finish, and then it was just a question of whether Yuki's lob would fall in, or how well he would hit a passing shot - and he hit them all very well most of the time. Yuki is a pleasure to watch when he is in good flow. RamK is in very good too, but today he was up against a guy who was not showing any chinks in the armor, so he couldn't solve the puzzle.

By the way, this may have been the first time that two top-150 Indians faced each other, in some 35 years or something? I need to check on that. I am glad that both got to show how good they are, even if one was simply better today.

[Prashant]

Based on the third set, another piece of evidence that Yuki is by far the superior player. I wish them both well of course, but the ceiling is much higher for Yuki. I think anyone in the top 100 is going to work RamK out - he will get by occasionally when all the serves & big shots work, but I haven't seen too much of a fallback. Perhaps Jay you are right that Yuki is in his head, but I think the ability to construct a point has to be there, particularly on your own serve.

[jayakris]

I think anyone in the top 100 is going to work RamK out - he will get by occasionally when all the serves & big shots work, but I haven't seen too much of a fallback. Perhaps Jay you are right that Yuki is in his head, but I think the ability to construct a point has to be there, particularly on your own serve.

I'm not that down on RamK though. He is quite a bit less experienced than Yuki at this level, so it is a matter of playing a lot more of these kinds of matches and building his confidence. He does have the shots, so basically it is a question of having the confidence to sometimes go for some of your high-percentage safer shots and waiting to extend the points a bit more. He is still improving, and seems to be working on his second serve. If he can serve like he can and get it to be a bit more accurate, he is a tough guy to beat for many guys even in the top-100. I won't be surprised if I see RamK in the top-65 or something later. But Yuki, if he stays healthy, has even a top-40 type game.

[jaydeep]

Great match and deserving winner ... Yuki looked more consistent and calm on the court ... He didn't try anything extra and played his regular game ... I m surprised to see RamK's game plan in this match ... He should be tried playing his own game, instead of going for broke against Yuki.

[Sin Hombre]

Yuki has a comfortable draw to the semis so I hope he plays in Bangalore. A win next week of course takes him back into the top 100.

Reading the pbp, it sounds like some bad blood between Yuki and Ram.

[jayakris]

Yuki has a comfortable draw to the semis so I hope he plays in Bangalore. A win next week of course takes him back into the top 100.

If he is healthy enough for it, he can consider next week as 4 wins to avoid having to get 3 in the AO qualies, with the first couple of matches being easier than at the AO qualies.... IF he is healthy, that is!

Reading the pbp, it sounds like some bad blood between Yuki and Ram.

Great. What happened? Why can't two Indians EVER get along, if they are both good? It is incredible - the inability of Indians to have some mutual respect and get along.

[sameerph]

Yes, I want him to play Bengaluru Challenger and earn maximum points but not at the cost of getting injured at an inopportune time. He has to judge how his body feels.

[Prashant]

I don't know if its bad blood or not. But until I find out, I'm going to hope that it is just two guys desperate to have the Alpha status among Indian men, and getting a little snippy as a result. If that is the case, i.e. they can leave it on the court, I am completely in favor of it. Let them play with an edge every time they meet, as long as they don't carry it off the court.

[jayakris]

Let them play with an edge every time they meet, as long as they don't carry it off the court.

Absolutely. Competitive spirit on court is perfectly fine. I thought something happened off-court, when "bad blood" was mentioned above. If not, no problem. I had not noticed anything before, about these two having any issues with each other. Hope they will get along, because it will help both, and the country. It has been a long long time since we had two top-100 quality players. And we may have three now, if Saki gets back to where he belongs. Together, they can really help create some excitement and confidence among our kids that they can all aspire to go to the top.