British Challengers (grass), June, 2018

[Rajiv]

Ram with a vital break, leads 3-1 in the second

[knarayen]

RamK holds to 3-1 in the second set. I am seeing some really good serve/volley here - amazingly good in fact. Grass is clearly RamK's Favorite surface!!

[jayakris]

Nice drop shots like the one he used in the 5th game. He breaks again to go up 7-6 4-1. Serving.

[Rajiv]

Yes Prof, I was just going to say that.

Never seen him volley so well, not only he is moving in at the right opportune moment ,but all of them have some serious pace and depth in them

[knarayen]

I think RamK must have won. I had to drop watching due to a meeting (blast it!!).

[PKBasu]

[R2] 5-Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND, 128) d. Tobias Kamke (GER, 228) 76(1) 63

[Rajiv]

A tight match on expected lines but Ram raised his game exceptionally well, Games preceding the TB went to collectively 8 to 10 deuces and after a very long time played a perfect TB to take the first set and carry the momentum in the 2nd.

As usual serve was on song and brilliant volleying,with lot of pace , depth and perfect placement.
With 35 points so far in these 2 weeks ,he has almost protected 38 points falling off from 2 Sing futures.

Seeds Fabbiano, Norrie from his half are out, Now don't mess up Ram..

[knarayen]

Nice wins from both RamK and the Gunner!!

THis actually energised my day thus far....may these good times continue.

I think next up for RamK will be the winner of Marcel Granollers and Alex Ward. Either one will not be easy but the next few rounds are sure to bring out the grass court specialists - they are the ones most likely to advance.

Prof

[PKBasu]

The next round should be relatively easy, against either the veteran Granollers or the British second-rater Alexander Ward.
Stakhovsky (who could have been Ramkumar's SF opponent) has been beaten by Daniel Evans (the former #41 who is slowly working his way back). Evans made the SF at Surbiton last week, and the last-16 the previous week at Loughborough, so he is getting back to reasonably good form. RamK vs Dan could be a tough battle in the SF.

[jaydeep]

In the doubles, Jeevan and Krajicek scored a straight sets win over Stakhovsky and Menendez-Maceiras.

[QF] (4) Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) bt Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP)/ Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) 75 64

[Sin Hombre]

The next round should be relatively easy, against either the veteran Granollers or the British second-rater Alexander Ward.
Stakhovsky (who could have been Ramkumar's SF opponent) has been beaten by Daniel Evans (the former #41 who is slowly working his way back). Evans made the SF at Surbiton last week, and the last-16 the previous week at Loughborough, so he is getting back to reasonably good form. RamK vs Dan could be a tough battle in the SF.

Ram is now +3 for the week so has covered the 28 points that were dropping off already.

A run to the final, hopefully beating a tired doper on the way, would also ensure that he covers the 57 points dropping off for Antalya when he is out playing W qualies.

June to August was where he won most of his points last year (including winnetka finals + cincy run) so if he can stay flat over this period, he will have a good shot at breaking the top 100 in the final third of the year.

[Rajiv]

In the next 4 weeks Ram has to defend 115-118 points , If all goes to plan he shouldn't be having any problems defending those as the present tournament , next week Ilkley, Wimby & Newport should take of this.
Baring some few points in Aug/Sept he does't have to defend any more big points (56 Points) until Nov
The form he is in and proper scheduling and choice of tournaments will get him break the 100 barrier by the year end.

[PKBasu]

If Ramkumar wins the Challenger title this week, he will rise to exactly #100 in the ATP singles rankings! Given his fine form, this is a clear possibility!!

[jayakris]

If Ramkumar wins the Challenger title this week, he will rise to exactly #100 in the ATP singles rankings! Given his fine form, this is a clear possibility!!

That will make me run to the record books to check on the last time we had two top-100 players in the rankings! Sometime in 1986 when Vijay fell off the top-100 and RK was probably in the top-50, I suspect.

[Rajiv]

If Ramkumar wins the Challenger title this week, he will rise to exactly #100 in the ATP singles rankings! Given his fine form, this is a clear possibility!!

That will make me run to the record books to check on the last time we had two top-100 players in the rankings! Sometime in 1986 when Vijay fell off the top-100 and RK was probably in the top-50, I suspect.

Yes that would fun digging those records I think the maximum we would have had is 3 or not more than 4 in our entire Tennis History.