European Challengers 2022

[sameerph]

Bala and Jeevan lost in the SF.

At the Challenger 125 in Parma, Italy (Clay)

[SF] N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l. (1) Tomislav Brkic (BIH) /Nikola Cacic (CRO) 36 46

[sameerph]

DiPu lost the final from a winning position.

At the Challenger 90 in Mouilleron-le-Captif, France (Hard)

[F] Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l. (2) Sander Arends (NED) /David Pel (NED) 76(1) 67(6) 6-10

DiPu were a break up in the second set after winning the first. Got broken back, then had 2 matchpoints with opponents serving at 5-6, then another 2 matchpoints in the second set tie break. Then, Dutch pair had all the monentum in match tie break.

[jayakris]

At the Challenger 80 in Ismaning, GER (Carpet)

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,274) vs (Q) Billy Harris (GBR,295)

If he advances, he potentially faces the top seed Quentin Halys (FRA,78) in the second round. RamK is seeded tops in doubles. Purav/Divij are the 4th seeds too.

[R1] (1) Jonny O'Mara (GBR)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Ivan Liutarevich (RUS)/ Vladyslav Manafov (UKR)
[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Szymon Walkow (POL)/ Kacper Zuk (POL)

[prashanthm]

RamK wins the first set tie-break.... Level in the second set with one hold a-piece...

2-2 in the second set, still on serve...

3-3 now...

5-5 now, still on serve... heading towards another tie-breaker this...

6-6 in the second set and another tie-breaker it is... Lets see who holds their nerves better...

Second set TB:

RamK gets passed attacking the net... down a mini-break... 1-2*
Stays at the baseline on Harris' serve and gets the mini-break back... back on serve now at *2-3
RamK couldn't get the volley right on his serve, loses a mini-break... 3-4*
Gets the mini-break back... *4-5...
Was in no-position to go for the serve-volley, good return from Harris to go 4-6 down... Saved one set point on setve... 5-6*
Harris wins the point and the second set with an unforced error from RamK...

3rd set
On to the decider now...

RamK was in a spot of bother in the opening service game, but managed to hold... 1-0*
Harris holds for *1-1
RamK had a look into Harris' serve at 30-30, but Harris held on for *2-2
Still on serve, 3-3 now...
RamK was in a spot of bother on his serve at 4-4, but saved multiple break-points to hold on.... 5-4* now...
Harris holds... *5-5 now...
6-6 and the deciding tie-break...

3rd set tie-break

RamK holds... 1-0*
Harris holds his serves... *1-2
RamK holds his two... 3-2*

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,274) v. (Q) Billy Harris (GBR,295) 76(4) 67(5) *66

[prashanthm]

3rd set tie-break

RamK holds... 1-0*
Harris holds his serves... *1-2
RamK holds his two... 3-2*
Harris holds his first serve, but RamK wriggles a mini-break out of Harris... *4-3
Two easy service holds for RamK to set himself up with 3 match-points... 6-3*
RamK had his chances on Harris' serve, but couldn't convert... *6-5, one more match-point...
And this time RamK converts... to complete a very close match consisting of 3 tie-breaks...

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,274) d. (Q) Billy Harris (GBR,295) 76(4) 67(5) 76(5)

[Rajiv]

Phew.. Ram prevails in tight 3 setter in which all the sets went to TB's, A typical fast indoor slugfest with quick short points and the positives.. Ram played all the TB's well unlike in the past .

In the process avenged his loss to the Briton who beat him few months ago in a pre wimbledon warm up Challenger.

Possibly the top seed Quentin Halys awaits him and coincidentally Ram beat him on the very same courts 2yrs ago in straight sets, but that time the Frenchman was in his 200's and today he is a top 100 player.

[jayakris]

Thanks a lot for the updates, Prashanth!!

Man, what a tight and long match. I saw bit and pieces. Ram wasn't playing badly or anything, but the other guy was playing very well too. I think the whole match had only one break point and had no breaks. Somebody had to win it in the end, I guess!

[PKBasu]

Wonderful win for Ramkumar. Nice to see him get back into some singles form, after a good performance to qualify into the ATP Japan Open as well. Let's hope he can capitalise on the fast indoor hard courts.

[prashanthm]

Thanks a lot for the updates, Prashanth!!

[jayakris]

[R1] (1) Jonny O'Mara (GBR)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l. Ivan Liutarevich (RUS)/ Vladyslav Manafov (UKR), 67(7) 76(5) [8-10]

They were up two minibreaks at 7-4 in the STB and still proceeded to lose, with only one point in the final seven, as the other guys played very well. RamK is not hitting hid ground strokes well at all on this carpet surface. Making way too many unforced errors hitting way too long or returning very poorly. It is only the serve that is even keeping him close in these matches -- all together 5 tiebreaker sets and an STB in singles and doubles so far. It is really hit-or-miss in doubles where you just go for the shots. Many more misses than hits, actually.

[jayakris]

Nobody is having a great week, from our side... Even in doubles, and even when seeded ... Also at the Challenger 80 in Ismaning, GER (Carpet)

[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l. Szymon Walkow (POL)/ Kacper Zuk (POL), 36 63 [7-10]

[Sanjay]

[R1] (1) Jonny O'Mara (GBR)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l. Ivan Liutarevich (RUS)/ Vladyslav Manafov (UKR), 67(7) 76(5) [8-10]

They were up two minibreaks at 7-4 in the STB and still proceeded to lose, with only one point in the final seven, as the other guys played very well. RamK is not hitting hid ground strokes well at all on this carpet surface. Making way too many unforced errors hitting way too long or returning very poorly. It is only the serve that is even keeping him close in these matches -- all together 5 tiebreaker sets and an STB in singles and doubles so far. It is really hit-or-miss in doubles where you just go for the shots. Many more misses than hits, actually.

In the 3rd set tiebreak, they were up 8-4 and needed 2 to win, they lost the next 6 points.

[jayakris]

Nobody watched RamK's match today?? It was way too early for me to get up and watch

[QF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,274) l. (1) Quentin Halys (FRA,78), 67(2) 63 57

Looks like he played really well in a close loss against a top-100 player. Oh well... On to the next week.

[Rajiv]

Saw it Jay, very unfortunate to lose the match, never saw him so focused as he was today ,faced nearly 8 to 10 BP's , and each time overcame them with superb volleying, and even out played the top seed when it came to rallies.

At 5-6 ,15-30 an easy lob which he could have killed it , Ram let it go ,but unfortunately just landed in and became 15-40, and was in complete disbelief to that miss, and at 15-40 with that costly error playing in his mind , a power return, from the Frenchman sealed the win.

[jayakris]

^^^ Thanks for the update. Unfortunate, indeed. But then again, this is where RamK still needs to improve. Just the temperament on court. Don't let "thoughts" affect your game. Time and again I have seen RamK not being calm-enough mentally to "play the proverbial next-ball on its own merit". You need to have very short memory on court. Again, easy for me to say... RamK is a human being with emotions and not a robot - that much is always clear in his matches.