Saketh Myneni outplayed the man in form, Ramkumar Ramanathan, 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals of the $50,000 Challenger tennis tournament at the Indore Club courts here on Saturday.
The 26-year-old Saketh fired seven aces as against one by the 19-year-old Ramkumar to dominate the proceedings with his serve, enjoying a 63 per cent first serve success rate.
“I tried to be aggressive on the serve and put pressure on the return games. Ram is a good player and has been in very good form,” said Saketh.
In the final, Saketh, who has won nine Futures singles titles, will be looking for his maiden Challenger singles title against top-seeded Aleksandr Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan, ranked 118 in the world.
“It will be a very physical battle. I will try to do my best and compete hard,” he said.
On his part, Ramkumar, who collected 29 ATP points and $2,510, took the defeat in his stride.
Bad day“One of my bad days. We will take the positives and move on,” said Ramkumar.
In the doubles final, the second-seeded Yuki Bhambri and Divij Sharan started well but the unseeded Adrian Menendez-Maceiras and Aleksandr Nedovyesov fought back in the second set to clinch the contest 10-3 in the super tie-break.
The results:
Singles (semifinals): Aleksandr Nedovyesov (Kaz) bt Stefano Travaglia (Ita) 6-3, 6-3; Saketh Myneni bt Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-2, 6-1.
Doubles (final): Adrian Menendez-maceiras (Esp) & Aleksandr Nedovyesov (Kaz) bt Yuki Bhambri & Divij Sharan 2-6, 6-4, 10-3.