Ramkumar Ramanathan thread

[Rajiv]

Good confident win in straight sets , and it is entirely due to his training and hard work which is transferring into these wins.
On a side note even the Top seed Tennys Sandegreen is out beaten by 406 ranked German Mathias Bachinger who will play Akira Santillan for a spot in FInals.

So on paper , all are winnable considering the playing form he is in , but these are tough matches and anything can happen on the given day, and without taking anything for granted should focus to record his maiden Challenger win

[jaydeep]

Yes, good win despite a struggle with his service ... Next, he is facing American Tommy Paul.

At $75K Winnetka Challenger 2017, USA

[SF] (5) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,184) vs Tommy Paul (USA,355)

[sportsfan]

Apparently Tommy Paul had promised to bring on his boys (supporters) to the stands against the #2 seed Taylor Fritz to cheer him up and that seemed to have worked.
RamK gets the prime time slot tomorrow at 7 pm, expect them to be there on Friday evening. Would love to see RamK on the winning side tomorrow.

[Rajiv]

7 pm slot and perfect time for HKG , 8 am on a Sat morning , far cry from his earlier rounds which use to finish way past midnight here local time.
And if he were to make the FInals , that should be finished by Saturday which will give him enough time to reach Newport on Sunday for the qualies ,
And if there are whole sale withdrawals upto 20 players than he might even make it into the main draw without having to play qualies
But to expect 20 withdrawals is a very faint chance.

[PKBasu]

Terrific run of victories for RamK. The title seems within his grasp now. If he can also manage to get to Newport for the qualifiers on Sunday, that'll be terrific -- although I'd prefer to see him take the title this week, take next week off and then recharge for other hard court Challengers in the runup to the US Open.

[sameerph]

If he goes to Newport qualies, he is likely to be top seed there. I hope they give him a main draw wild card there which will give him couple of days rest. I am not sure though if the organisers will do that.

[PKBasu]

If he is going to be top seed in the qualifiers, it shouldn't take much to give him a wildcard. The only reason he will still need to be playing qualifiers is because his ranking 3 weeks ago required it. Having beaten Thiem on grass (and made the QF at Antalya ATP) apart from likely winning the Winnetka Challenger, he has surely earned a place in the Newport main draw. (He is now ranked #174 in the live rankings).

[Sin Hombre]

RamK broken in the very first game.

And loses the first set 6-4. His backhand still appears to be a liability on a fast hc.

Switches to a kick serve in the second and Paul is unable to deal with it. RamK at level terms after winning the second 6-3.

RamK up 3-0 but match is getting a bit ugly with Paul complaining about Ram's grunting and his supporters getting a bit noisy. Ram saves 3 bps to consolidate the double break and go up 4-0.

[sameerph]

RamK is now double break up 3-0 in the third set.

[sameerph]

He is 5-1 up now in third set.

Paul holds and RamK will now serve for the match at 5-2.

And he finishes it off 2 aces in the final game.

[Sin Hombre]

And Ram wins the 3rd set 6-2.

Anyone up for a trip to Winnetka tomorrow evening?

Ram now ranked #168 in the world. I am guessing this means automatic removal from Newport qualies.

[sportsfan]

Wow, nice win for RamK. He was a better player all through the match since the rusty first game where he was broken.
and good change of tactics after the first set loss where he tried to match Paul from the baseline and Paul was slightly better.
RamK has a very good all court game evident from second set onward. His forays to the net won him the match today.
The title is firmly in sight now.

[sameerph]

I am guessing this means automatic removal from Newport qualies.

Not if qualies at Newport start on Sunday. He can still play the final here tomorrow and go for qualies at Newport on Sunday.

[sportsfan]

RamK up 3-0 but match is getting a bit ugly with Paul complaining about Ram's grunting and his supporters getting a bit noisy.

but what a sport RamK is. did you watch the point in the second set where he gave Paul the ace which was called out.. but broke him in the same game. good to see that.

[Rajiv]

When Tommy Paul a 190 ranked player not a long time ago and conquerer of Taylor Fritz took the first set and with a break up in the second it looked an impossible task to get the break back leave alone the set or the match.

But Ram has shown his true meetle and the way he pulled out this victory and finetuned after the initial hiccup shows a remarkable new found trait in him to fight and prevail with the back against the wall

But inspite all his transformation the beaten to death topic of his backhand doesn't seem to die ,The double handed and the slices are a different story now , and if ever that really  was the case it was impossible Ram would be rising in rankings  and would be languishing around 275.

Some days ago bhujilover found only the 2nd instance of KU crazy scheduling annoying and the second instance he termed it as constant carping and here we have Indian #1 playing remarkable Tennis of his career making the country proud and us fans delighted , but even at this stage this bias of years doesn't show no sign of abating  just like an uncontrollable oil slick.