European Challengers 2023

[jayakris]

RamK was seeded in the qualies at the Challenger 100 in Biel, SUI. Once again a loss, this time to an ALT

[Q1] (5) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,414) l. (Alt) Karol Drzewiecki (POL,820), 64 57 62

In the doubles main draw,

[R1] (4) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (WC) Mika Brunold (SUI)/ Dylan Dietrich (SUI)
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Daniel Masur (GER) vs (2) Romain Arneodo (MON)/ Sam Weissborn (AUT)

[jayakris]

At the Challenger 75 in Les Franqueses Del Valles, Spain (Hard)

[R1] (3) Anirudh Chandrasekar (IND)/ Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) vs Sanjar Fayziev (UZB)/ Oleksii Krutykh (UKR)
[R2] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Alberto Barroso Campos (ESP)/ Flag Marco Trungelliti (ARG)

[Sanjay]

RamK was seeded in the qualies at the Challenger 100 in Biel, SUI. Once again a loss, this time to an ALT

[Q1] (5) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,414) l. (Alt) Karol Drzewiecki (POL,820), 64 57 62

In the doubles main draw,

[R1] (4) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (WC) Mika Brunold (SUI)/ Dylan Dietrich (SUI)
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Daniel Masur (GER) vs (2) Romain Arneodo (MON)/ Sam Weissborn (AUT)

Now our guys lose in Challenger qualifiers to players ranked 1000+.
Wah.

At one time our players had made the SF and QF of Grand Slams.

[sameerph]

These kind of losses by RamK really baffle me. How does his level drop so much ?

I mean at the start of the year, he had 2 wins over players ranked 153 and 175 and a close 3 set loss over player ranked 62 at Pune ATP.

Then, he had 3 losees against players ranked 219,196 and 285 in Indian challengers. Not good but still not alarming.

But, last 2 losses are against players ranked outside 800 in first round of challenger qualifying. How did it go so bad ?

If he does as badly at Indian futures, maybe he can just take some break and come back after checking with some coach as to what is going wrong after studying these matches which will all be available on ATP website and than work on it.

[knarayen]

These kind of losses by RamK really baffle me. How does his level drop so much ?

I mean at the start of the year, he had 2 wins over players ranked 153 and 175 and a close 3 set loss over player ranked 62 at Pune ATP.

Then, he had 3 losees against players ranked 219,196 and 285 in Indian challengers. Not good but still not alarming.

But, last 2 losses are against players ranked outside 800 in first round of challenger qualifying. How did it go so bad ?

If he does as badly at Indian futures, maybe he can just take some break and come back after checking with some coach as to what is going wrong after studying these matches which will all be available on ATP website and than work on it.

I think he is jaded mentally and needs a break, find a partner, get married, and repurpose himself in life before he considers rejoining the tour. He shouldn’t be playing if he is not 100% committed.

[jayakris]

I think he is jaded mentally and needs a break, find a partner, get married, and repurpose himself in life before he considers rejoining the tour. He shouldn’t be playing if he is not 100% committed.

I think getting married is a good idea. That will be a distraction normally, but in his case, I think distractions are probably better. He needs a break and he needs to "repurpose himself". It is a funny suggestion, but also not bad advice, Prof.

[jayakris]

At the Challenger 100 in Biel, SUI (Hard)

[R1] (4) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) d. (WC) Mika Brunold (SUI)/ Dylan Dietrich (SUI), 61 62

[rajitghosh]

I thought Biel hosted a chess tournament that a certain Vishy Anand would win

[PKBasu]

Nice to see a victory for Ramkumar at last, albeit in doubles. And this is a good (though perhaps temporary) all-Indian pairing.

[jayakris]

At the Challenger 75 in Les Franqueses Del Valles, Spain (Hard)

[R1] (3) Anirudh Chandrasekar (IND)/ Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) d. Sanjar Fayziev (UZB)/ Oleksii Krutykh (UKR), 62 64
[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) d. Alberto Barroso Campos (ESP)/ Flag Marco Trungelliti (ARG), 63 67(5) [10-5]
so
[QF] (3) Anirudh Chandrasekar (IND)/ Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) vs Fajing Sun (CHN)/ Volodoymyr Uzhylovskyi (UKR)
[QF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs David Jorda Sanchis (ESP)/ Bruno Pujol Navarro (ESP)

[Atithee]

Nice going. I’ve always felt and expressed here that Indians are best teaming up with fellow Indians.

[jayakris]

^^^ The one Indian who didn't have an Indian partner, lost this week in a close match... At the Biel challenger,

[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Daniel Masur (GER) l. (2) Romain Arneodo (MON)/ Sam Weissborn (AUT), 67(5) 67(5)

[Atithee]

^^The match must have been very competitive and losing to second seeds with that score line is commendable.

[jayakris]

At the Challenger 100 in Biel, SUI (Hard)

[QF] (4) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) d. Marek Gengel (CZE)/ Petr Nouza (CZE), 76(6) 62
so
[SF] (4) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Victor Vlad Cornea (ROU)/ Franko Skugor (CRO)

Cornea/Skugor upset the top seeds Quereshi/Brown in an STB.

[jayakris]

At the Challenger 75 in Les Franqueses Del Valles, Spain (Hard)

[QF] (3) Anirudh Chandrasekar (IND)/ Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) d. Fajing Sun (CHN)/ Volodoymyr Uzhylovskyi (UKR), 63 64
[QF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) d. David Jorda Sanchis (ESP)/ Bruno Pujol Navarro (ESP), 64 63

Very similar matches. AniVSP served their 4th ace at the match pt, and PuDiv served their 3rd at the MP too. Easy wins to make the semis. Opponents TBD. Update: The top seeds Cabral/Purcell got upset, and the 2nd seeds won, to play PuDiv.

[SF] (3) Anirudh Chandrasekar (IND)/ Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) vs Jay Clarke (GBR)/ Lorenzo Giustino (ITA)
[SF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs (2) Marco Bortolotti (ITA)/ Sergio Martos Gornes (ESP)