Grass tournaments (Challengers & ATP/WTA tour) 2019

[PKBasu]

The grass season begins next week with the Surbiton Challenger, a highly competitive grass event that is played during the second week of the French Open. Ramkumar is in the entry list there, but will not be among the seeds: he is only 24th on the acceptance list, which contains about 10 top-100 players (#53 Matt Ebden being the highest ranked player).

Prajnesh will be returning for the Stuttgart ATP, where he qualified in last year and beat #23 Denis Shapovalov. That is the week immediately after the French Open.

[S_K_S]

Does anyone know if Ankita is coming to Birmingham this year for the Nature Valley Classic?

[sameerph]

Only RamK is playing singles in the first week of grass challengers. Saketh would have made it in but choose to withdraw. But, lots of Indians in doubles.

At $150K(+H) Surbitron Challenger, Great Britain

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,143) vs. Tobias Kamke (GER,255)

[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND) / James Cerretani (USA) vs. (1) Marcel Granollers (ESP) / Ben Mclahlan (JPN)
[R1] Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND) / Purav Raja (IND) vs. Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) / Soonwoo Kwon (KOR)
[R1] (2) Divij Sharan (IND) / Marcelo Demoliner (BRA) vs. (WC) Daniel Evans (GBR) / Lloyd Glasspool (GBR)

[PKBasu]

Ramkumar starts the grass season with an excellent win Over the experienced Tobias Kamke 63 36 61

[sameerph]

Yes, good win by RamK.

At $150K(+H) Surbitron Challenger, Great Britain

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,143) d. Tobias Kamke (GER,255) 63 36 61

Next,

[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,143) vs. (15) Matthias Bachinger (GER,126)

That is a tough against a seasoned campaigner.

[PKBasu]

Tobias Kamke is a quintessential grass courter (his best Slam performance was making R3 at Wimbledon), so beating him should give Ramkumar a real shot in the arm.

Bachinger is another ageing German who is past his prime.

[PKBasu]

[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,143) l. 15-Matthias Bachinger (GER,126) 64 46 36

[vparam]

[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,143) l. 15-Matthias Bachinger (GER,126) 64 46 36

Unfortunately for RamK, Bachinger did not age fast enough! Will RamK ever win a tournament? Can't believe he still hasn't at this point in his career.

[jaydeep]

In the doubles, Ram scored a victory with his Korean partner Kwon ... They defeated a good pairing of Jeevan and Purav in straight sets ... Next, Ram and Kwon will be facing the 4th seed Erlich and Sitak.

[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jamie Cerretani (USA) vs (1) Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Ben McLachlan (JPN)
[R1] Soonwoo Kwon (KOR)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) 64 63
[R1] (2) Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs (WC) Daniel Evans (GBR)/ Lloyd Glasspool (GBR)

[QF] Soonwoo Kwon (KOR)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (4) Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Artem Sitak (NZL)

[arjun2761]

[R1] (2) Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l (WC) Daniel Evans (GBR)/ Lloyd Glasspool (GBR) 5-7, 7-6(5), 8-10
[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jamie Cerretani (USA) l (1) Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Ben McLachlan (JPN) 3-6, 1-6

[QF] Soonwoo Kwon (KOR)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) d. (4) Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) 6-2, 7-6(5)

Up next:

[SF] Soonwoo Kwon (KOR)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) v. Daniel Evans (GBR)/ Lloyd Glasspool (GBR)

[PKBasu]

Pretty good pair of wins for this scratch pairing of Ramkumar and the Korean!

[sameerph]

Prajnesh is top seed in qualies at Stutgart and Mukund got a wild card.

At $679K Mercedes Cup, Stuttgart,Germany (Grass)

[Q1] (1) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,88) vs. Matteo Viola (ITA,250)

[Q1] (WC) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,283) vs. (8) Gregoire Barrere (FRA,127)

[Dinesh]

Prajnesh retired after 1-set all 1-2 down in the third set

[PKBasu]

Prajnesh won the first set in a tiebreaker, lost the second tiebreak at love, then retired 1-2 down in the third set. Worrying!

[jaydeep]

Yes, I am also worried about Prajnesh's injury ... His clay court season already wasted due to injury and here also he retired after playing two tie-breaks ... Hopefully, he will recover before big W ... Mukund played a decent match against his higher ranked French opponent.

A tough doubles match for Rohan with Shapo against Bryans ... Divij and Marcelo r facing Sitak and Molchanov.

At € 754K Mercedes Cup 2019, Stuttgart, Germany (Grass)

[Q1] (1) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,88) l Matteo Viola (ITA,250) 76(6) 67(0) 1-2 retd.
[Q1] (WC) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,283) l (8) Gregoire Barrere (FRA,127) 36 46

Doubles
[R1] Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Denys Molchanov (UKR)/ Artem Sitak (NZL)
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Denis Shapovalov (CAN) vs (3) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)