Pune Challenger: Bhambri meets Ramkumar

The Indians won comfortably in straight sets

November 17, 2017 10:18 pm | Updated 10:18 pm IST - Pune

Ramkumar Ramanathan... a great year.

Ramkumar Ramanathan... a great year.

India’s Yuki Bhambri and Ramanathan Ramkumar will fight it out for the title in the KPIT-MSLTA $50000 Challenger at Mhalunge-Balewadi sports complex on Saturday.

While Bhambri got the better of Adrian Menendez-Maceiras 6-2, 6-4, the No. 2 seed from Spain, in an hour and 39 minutes, Ramkumar scored his maiden win against Myneni as a professional on the ATP tour.

In the semifinals, Ramkumar won 6-2, 6-3 against a not-so-fully-fit Myneni in 47 minutes.

Bhambri had come into the semifinals with a confidence-boosting straight-set wins over Kaichi Uchida, Ante Pavic and Jay Clarke.

He had also beaten the Spanish opponent on clay in 2015 in the Samarkand Challenger in Uzbekistan.

In the circumstances, the odds were stacked against the highly temperamental Maceiras. He held his first two service games, but double-faulted at the start of his third and lost three more points on the trot for Bhambri to break and take the lead.

There was no looking back as the Indian clinched the first set 6-2.

In the second set, the two served well in the first two service games, but long rallies marked thereafter with Bhambri having a tough time winning two games of his serve.

His opponent too was in a plight conceding five match points in the ninth game, but after frittering away those chances, Bhambri held the tenth comfortably to win his fourth match without dropping a set.

Third final

After entering the third Challenger final of the year, Ramkumar said: “It’s always difficult to play Saketh. No matter where you play, it’s tough to play him.

“He has the skills, volleys and touch. Had he got a break, he would have pushed himself a bit more. Every point matters when you play him.”

Ramkumar felt getting an early break in the first set mattered a lot. “It kept the momentum going.”

The results: Semifinals: Yuki Bhambri bt Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (Esp) 6-2, 6-4; Ramanathan Ramkumar bt Saketh Myneni 6-3, 6-2.

Doubles: Pedro Martinez and Adrian Menendez - Maceiras (Spain) bt Saketh Myneni and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 6-4, 6-4.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.