The Sports-India Community

At this huge 1000 Masters , being the only one of its kind not played in Europe or USA , we have a decent Indian participation with atleast 3 to 6 players in the fray (depending on some making the cut.)

Sumit, Rohan, Yuki have made the MD in their respective categories. ( So too Mr Wong who has a singles MD WC )

Jeevan/Vijay are in the alt list for Dbls and Ram is agonizingly close to making it to the qualies draw being 2 out, there are 2 more days to go starting on 30th Sept and hope he can get through to the qualies of this biggie.(There is one SE spot to cleared and if it is removed still he would be tantalizingly 1 spot away)

Jeevan/Vijay will not be waiting for an alternate spot here as they have signed up to play in a Challenger in Spain.

RamK does get into Shanghai Masters qualifying draw and will play 140th ranked Frenchman Ugo Blanchet in Q1 later today.

It was good calculated risk he took to go to Shanghai as untill less than a week ago he was #20 last in the Alt list.
Hope he can make the most of it and even the Q1 loser earns nearly the same as wining a 75 Challenger.

Sumit meanwhile on paper has a very good draw against a WC Yibeng Wu who has fallen down to the 500's coming back after a surgery on his left foot.
But considering he was a top 50 a year ago and playing on the home turf could make this match intriguing as despite his recovery from injury and a low ranking Yibeng has won a Challenger this year.

Singles:

[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND, 332) vs. Ugo Blanchet (FRA, 139) - loser earns US$7000, winner US$13,500

[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND, 82; CH 68) vs. WC-Wu Yibing (CHN, 561; CH 54) - loser earns US$23,250, winner $34,550


[Updated to the correct Sep 30 Ranks, that are not officially out yet - Mod, Jay]

Yibing this year has been in a patchy run which is logical as he is still coming to grips after a serious surgery and the wins that he has had are against a lower standard of players.

So I am sure Sumit can chalk out a rare HC victory.

It was a well-considered decision by Ramkumar to try and get into this Masters draw. This tournament has 96 singles slots, so it was a bigger field than the typical Masters.

Yuki/Albano will be playing their first Masters doubles together, I think.

This is great news, that RamK is in the qualies there. Let us break the streak and et a win, RamK...

First set 2-3 on serve... RamK holds at love. 3-3. Playing quite well. Had an AD out BP following a beautiful BH cross court, but Blanchet holds. 3-4. RamK comes back from 0-30 with 4 strong serves. 4-4

Excellent work on a forehand return and volley at the net for a decue. Blanchet makes the mistake of serving to RK's forehand. He returns it deep down the line and it is a BP. Now (finally!) a good BH chip return from RamK and Yugo hits one out wide. BREAK! 5-4 and serving. Good serving to get up to 40-0 but hit a volley too long, and the double faulted to lose two set points. But a solid serve gets him the set! 6-4

[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,332) vs. (18) Ugo Blanchet (FRA,139), 64 00

Good play by Ramchandra.. playing like the Ram of the old, precise power shot making, deft volleying and always put his opponent under pressure to convert his 4th BP and serving out the set at 4.

Come on Ram!!!

Oh boy... A poor service game just when he needed to keep the focus. 64 02 down a break. Blanchet holds and it is 64 03

He messed up an overhead and hit into the net but otherwise did the serve and volley well.. 1-3... Now a poor service game from Blanchet, with a couple of smart points from RamK who stays with his strong forehand and is not messing around with slices. (DO NOT SLICE on the forehand, RamK. Just do NOT ... Blanchet hits one into the net at RamK gets the break back. 63 23 ... Strong serves. Haha, a great 40-0 point. RamK literally sqats on the floor, following up on a serve and hits a soft ball across, Blanchet runs up and tries to pass him, as RamK is still not up from his crouch, but he reaches and hits it over Blanchet's head. Such an unusual point but cute stuff. 63 33... Now 4-4, and 4-5 on serve.

Oh God. What a poor game from RamK. He hit a gimme forehand cross court kill too long, served a double fault, unnecessarily tried a BH drop where a straight two-fisted BH winner was there for the taking (he got too much time to think and screw it up), and then at 30-40 hit an BH overhead with no conviction, too long. 4 mistakes in his own service game. Not a single good serve there either. Just like that he got broken, and he has ONLY himself to blame for losing his focus.

[Q1] (ALT) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,332) vs. (18) Ugo Blanchet (FRA,139), 64 46 00

Wow, what a fabulous Backhand winner to the deep right corner from the baseline for 0-40 3bps on Blanchet's serve! Where were these top spin shots all this while, RamK??? ... And he gets the break at 30-40 as Blanchet hits a winner too wide. 64 46 10...

Ok Ram starts in the right fashion to break his opponent in the decider.

RR saves a 30-40 BP and holds. 2-0 third set.

a great stop volley to save a BP , followed by 2 S&V to take the second game and go 2 nil up

from few spectators at the start of the match , the stands are completely full on both the flanks and enjoying this absorbing contest.