New Delhi:
India’s big serving tennis player Ramkumar Ramanathan stunned French Open 2017 semi-finalist Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-2 at the Antalya Open being played on Tuesday. It was certainly the biggest win of the career for the Chennai lad who is currently placed at 222 on the ATP rankings.
Ramkumar fired 10 aces in a match to outserve his Austrian Open in a match that lasted just a minute under an hour. Ramanathan is ranked 222 in the ATP rankings while Thiem is no. 8.
Ramanathan was dominant in the first set and sailed to a 6-3 win. He wasted three break points in the second set before breaking the world no. 8 in the fifth game. “I worked really hard for this,” he said after the match, “Thank you to the crowd for coming out and cheering. I like the grass.
Courts are fast. I took my chances and it worked out. I’m having a great time here and thanks to all the organisers.” Ramanathan will now face 79th-ranked Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in the quarter-finals. It is his best result since reaching the quarter-finals of the Chennai Open last year.
Ramanathan had entered the tournament through the qualifiers, as opposed to Thiem who was the top seed. Ramanathan had earlier defeated the 68-ranked Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-3, 6-4 in the first round and has followed that up with the win over Thiem. It also means that the Indian is yet to drop a set in the tournament.
