Rajeev Ram thread...

[Insider]

At the Japan Open:
[Q] Rajeev Ram (USA, 174) v. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP, 39)

Garcia-Lopez is HOT, having beaten Nadal last week en route to a title.

First set:

So far Rajeev has wasted 6 break points, all virtual set points (at 4-4 and 5-5). Rajeev has yet to face a break point himself. 5-6.
And now Rajeev saves 2 set points at 5-6 to hold. Good stuff...6-6.

Tiebreak:
Rajeev wins 7-3!

Second set:

GL breaks to start. Now GL starts serving at 2-1 following a delay (injury time-out?).

[knarayen]

Rajeev Ram loses to Guillermo-Garcia Lopez - 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-7(1)

Looks like a very close match - this is a good sign - he is probably playing well and ready for his march back into the top 100.

The 3-set Roddick match played earlier after Wimby must have lit a few light bulbs in his head - when I watched him play here at the Dallas Challenger I wondered why he was so passive from the baseline.

Prof

[Insider]

Rajeev was up 3-0 in the third...too bad...

[Insider]

Rajeev is defending his title at the Achen Challenger:

[R1] Rajeev Ram (USA, 158) d. (4) Grigor Dimitrov (BUL, 115) 3-6 7-6(5) 7-6(4)

Excellent win over the in-form former junior no. 1.

[arjun2761]

Looks like Rajeev beat Simon Stadler (GER, 229) 7-6, 7-6 to make the QF.

Rajeev does seem to be playing better singles in the last couple of months.

[arjun2761]

[QF] Rajeev Ram d (7)Jesse Huta Galung (NED, 126) 7-6, 6-4 to move into the SF. Since he is the defending champion here obviously the courts really suit his game

[PKBasu]

Rajeev lost the SF 36 67 to Dustin Brown (JAM, 105).

[knarayen]

Set 1

Rajeev (229) up 4-3 with a service break, and serving, against Paul Capdeville (138) in the final qualifiying of the Houston Clay Court Event (April 4-11) 2011.

Down 4-5 and 3 set points - pulls up to deuce. Holds to level at 5-5
5-5 Capdeville holds at 15 with an ace
5-6 Ram serves - holds with an ace at 15 - into tiebreaker
6-6 ram set point at 5-6

[knarayen]

Set 1

Rajeev (229) up 4-3 with a service break, and serving, against Paul Capdeville (138) in the final qualifiying of the Houston Clay Court Event (April 4-11) 2011.

Down 4-5 and 3 set points - pulls up to deuce. Holds to level at 5-5
5-5 Capdeville holds at 15 with an ace
5-6 Ram serves - holds with an ace at 15 - into tiebreaker
6-6 ram set point at 5-6

Ram loses set 1 6-7 (6-8) very close set

Set 2

Ram wins 7-6 a very close set (7-5 in tiebreaker)!! Key point here is that Capdeville's 1st serve percentage drops from 81 to 50%!! Ram keeps his steady at 57% which is not too good either.
Set 3

Immediately goes down a break 0-2
0-2 Ram serving - broken again down 0-3. Ram yet to win a point on his second serve. Doesn't look good. Match now at 2 hrs 30 mins...looks like a good fight Looks like Ram is fighting hard but not winning the big points. The bane of the Indian-origin tennis player's existence.
0-3 Cap serving - good news here is that Cap's 1st serve % is at 36, Ram's is up at 80%, yet Ram's losing? Ram breaks Cap at 15
1-3 Cap serving - holds at love 4-1.
1-4 Ram serving - ram holds at 15
4-2 Cap serving - 0-15, 0-30, 15-30, 15-40, 30-40, DF by Cap - Ram breaks back on serve 3-4!!
3-4 Ram serving - ram holds at 15 - dead even at 4-4. Even chance of pulling this off!!
4-4 Cap serving - 30-40 Break point, D, Cap holds 5-4
4-5 Ram serving - quickly goes down 0-40. 3 match points down - saves one, saves 2, loses the third.

Ram loses 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 match duration almost 3 hours (2:58:11). Looks like he fought long and hard but lost some crucial points that made the difference in the end.Sadly, Ram served a lot better in the third set, but Cap also returned a lot better...it would have been great if he had served up to 70% in the first 2 sets, that would have made the difference I think.

Prof

[PKBasu]

Pretty brave of Rajeev to play a clay tournament, on the surface that least suits him. Thanks, Prof, for the terrific details.

[arjun2761]

Rajeev Ram (238) wins the Eckental challenger in Germany without losing a set. The points collected should move him back well inside the top 200 although he has a challenger SF points for Aachen falling off in another week.

He defeated Joao Souza (196), Go Soeda (117), Dustin Brown (146), Andreas Beck (110), and Karol Beck (100) wthout dropping a set. Congrats to Rajeev on a fine week's work with 5 straight wins over opponents inside the top-200!

[jic]

I am very happy for Rajeev. I really enjoy watching him play. He has such a smooth game. His is especially impressive. Very Sampras-like. Apparently, some people call him Rampras due to his serve. He lost a narrow match to Ryan Harrison in Atlanta, which, if he had won, might have boosted his confidence for the rest of the season. Nice to see him have wins over some stiff competition.

[Saniapower]

Rampras will be back

[sameerph]

Rajeev has reached SF this week as well.

At €64,000 +H Ortisei Challenger

[R1] Rajeev Ram (USA,172) d. Michal Przysiezny (POL,162) 6-7(6) 6-3 6-3
[R2] Rajeev Ram (USA,172) d. Alexander Kudryavtsev (RUS,152) 7-6(6) 6-7(5) 6-3
[QF] Rajeev Ram (USA,172) d. (q)Marcel Zimmermann (GER,348) 6-4 6-4

Next,

[SF] Rajeev Ram (USA,172) v. Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS,201)

[arjun2761]

There is a live stream of Rajeev's semifinal from the tournament website. He trails Kravchuk 4-5 on serve in the first set.
[Edit: Rajeev takes the first set 7-5]

Rajeev has a very smooth serve and volley game with a decent forehand and decent movement despite his skinny legs. However, the slice is his bread-and-butter backhand shot and is probably easily exploited in all but the fastest courts.