Asia-Australia ATP Challengers 2022

[jayakris]

The proverbial "next week" of great success that we keep hoping for, is here! Everybody facing home players first.

At the Challenger 80 in Kobe, Japan (Hard):

[Q1] (2) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,343) vs (WC) Seita Watanabe (JPN,383)
[Q1] Arjun Kadhe (IND,568) vs (3) Shintaro Mochizuki (JPN,355)
and
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (4) Kaichi Uchida (JPN,169)
[R1] (1) Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Sho Shimabukuro (IND)/ Yosuke Watanuki (JPN)

Meanwhile, qualifier Seongchan Hong who had beaten Mukund in the first round at Matsuyama has gone all the way to the final there! The one who beat RamK got upset by somebody in the next round, who lost in the QF to Seongchan -- so RamK can't claim that he only lost to a player in great form like Mukund can.

[Rajiv]

Good Luck to the Indian contintingent of Arjun,Mukund and Ram.
Ram in form glut but still hoping he can turn things around which he is capable off in season ending tournaments when players are more inclined to rush back home and pray that he can come up with his unexpected form which he exhibits,when least expected .

[jayakris]

At the Challenger 80 in Kobe, Japan (Hard):

[Q1] (2) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,343) d. (WC) Seita Watanabe (JPN,383), 63 61
[Q1] Arjun Kadhe (IND,568) l. (3) Shintaro Mochizuki (JPN,355), 75 46 46

[Q2] (2) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,343) vs Naoki Nakagawa (JPN, 442)

[Rajiv]

And Mukund falters in the FQR going down in straight sets 36 67.
Should be winning these matches if he has to graduate to the next level in 2023, especially when he has the game which he showed few weeks ago when he took out the top seed in Australia.

[jayakris]

At the Kobe Challenger, RamK is at 64 46 00 against the 4th seed Kaichi Uchida (JPN,161). Match stream

Can RamK make it two upsets for us today? Go RamK!!!

Serving well today, and his chip shots finally have depth. Got 2 BPs in the 2nd game, and then 3 more in the 4th game. Finally broke to lead 3-1 in the third, getting to 0-40 after a fantastic 30 shot rally. Old RamK!! Holds at 30 to 4-1. He hit a gimme overhead out for no reasons there, but has not been making too many dumb mistakes at all today in the 3rd set I have watchd. Nice! Big serves (I mean, HUGE serves) for a hold at 30 for 5-2. Uchida could not return 4 of the serves though he touched them. 5-2 up one break. He had a 30-40 MP in the next game but Uchida somehow escaped. In the final game, RamK hit a second serve ace, and then at 30-30 played the point of the set at the net, hitting 4 volleys in a row on passing short attempts (which were not bad attaempts either) from Uchida. He then converted the second match point for a badly-needed upset win.

Man, I just screamed as loudly as RamK. He won it. 6-3!!!

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,289) d. (4) Kaichi Uchida (JPN,161), 64 46 63

[PKBasu]

Wonderful win! Great to have Ramkumar back to winning ways. And Prajnesh upset the 5th seed in the US, so we've had a great day in singles after a long-ish time!
Jay, thanks for the detailed updates.

[Rajiv]

and pray that he can come up with his unexpected form which he exhibits,when least expected .

So Ram did exactly what I wished for before the start of the match.

But on a serious note, his opponent was an average player even though ranked 160, has only 2 top 200 wins throughout this year and one of them was over a #195., so will wait for his upcoming matches to see if the change is happening.
In the meantime let's celebrate this rare upset from Ram.

[jayakris]

^^^ But RamK was playing better than I have seen in the recent past. Uchida was not able to handle his chip returns as well as many others would, and that was the key. But RamK was hitting the chip shots deeper (much deeper) than I have seen him do lately. That is the key. It is almost like some wrist issue or something went away. Plus he was running better today too. But as always, he needs to get his 25 odd points purely on his serve, which he got today too. Still he is touch and go. I agree that Uchida was not a great opponent, but he was of the quality of players to whom RamK has lately lost 26 36. He clearly played very well today.

[Rajiv]

By all accounts this is good win considering his previous ignonimous losses, and the key part was serving with over dozen aces and volleys finding its mark.
But the way he let his opponent come back repeatedly, by giving a break back in S1 and then dropping the S2, just makes my optimision guarded, and R2 will be a better judge of his form.

[prashanthm]

Wow! Two great upset wins for Indians today.... Nice!

[sameerph]

Nice upset win by RamK after a while. But as Rajiv said lets us wait and watch if he follows it up with more wins this week.

Next,

[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,289) vs (Q) Jason Jung (TPE,399)

[SaniaFan]

Well, with RamK it is not about. He need to buck the trend of his first round losses in a row. I'll be really optimistic when he can string good performances in few tournaments in a row. Otherwise, I have seen him really do well in a tournament and then there is a string of inexplicable first round losses.

[jayakris]

^^^ I only want him to string a few wins together. Stringing good performances together in multiple tournaments is too much to hope for, with RamK. Meanwhile,

[R1] (1) Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) d. Sho Shimabukuro (IND)/ Yosuke Watanuki (JPN) 36 63 [10-8]

Tough match, but they came back and won it. Hopefully that keeps RamK's confidence up in singles tomorrow.

[jayakris]

RamK's R2 against Jason Jung is on - https://www.atptour.com/en/atp-challeng ... 2/7397/all

The bad RamK is back today. 1-5 down two breaks, and arguing line calls for ever. Move on RamK! In this case, it was a good call too. Six double faults already, and you are focusing on baseline calls at the other end from you? When will you grow up? At 5-2, he is sitting down and continuing to harangue the umpire. You should be thinking of what is wrong with your game today. This is so exasperating. Isn't there anybody who has the ability to advise RamK and get him to change his mental game on court? 2-6

Jason Jung takes a medical timeout before starting the second set. Trainer working on him. Now RamK is complaining (I think) to the tournament referee who has come on court. Not sure what is up.

But it looks like RamK has gotten into Jason's head though. JJ was complaining about how RamK shakes his racket while waiting to receive serve. Now JJ goes on about it... He drops serve. RamK up 3-0... Broke him all three times and took the set quickly. RamK has not complained or talked much in this set, and some of the lobs, half volley digs and touch shots have come back! (where were those shots for weeks on end?) 26 60 00

Up a break in the second game. Now 3-0. JJ got really upset when RamK yelled "come on" when JJ hit a gimme overhead into the net and was complaining directly to RamK. This is all just bad court etiquette, but that is what RamK has turned into. More errors from JJ who seems to have nothing in the tank, and is hurting. He retires. They continue to talk, not in a heated way, but like a couple of school kids. I guess RamK picked up yet another payer on tour who doesn't like him. Anyway, after all that, it is a win for RamK.

[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,289) d. (Q) Jason Jung (TPE,399), 26 60 40 Ret.

[Dinesh]

Pathetic sportsmanship, as usual from this guy. This kind of repetitive abhorrent behavior makes Indian tennis fans like myself to even stop following his career altogether. And the guy can’t even put together a decent argument in English (… if you can talk, I can also talk?!)