India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan continued his good run and battled past Bradley Klahn of the U.S. 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (9) in the first round of the USD 75,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Winnetka, U.S., on Tuesday.
Despite dropping serve four times, and breaking his opponent's serve only twice, Ramkumar pulled through in the battle of wits that lasted two hours and 42 minutes, as he tackled the tie-breaks with competence.
The 22-year-old Ramkumar, who had made the quarterfinals as a qualifier in the Antalya Open ATP Tour event a fortnight earlier beating world No.8 Dominic Thiem of Austria along the way, will be challenged by wild card J.C. Aragone of the U.S. in the second round.
Ramkumar has partnered Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan for the doubles.
Another Indian pair, Sriram Balaji and Vijay Sundar Prashanth, set up a quarterfinal against top seeds Johan Brunstrom and Andreas Siljestrom of Sweden in the EUR 43,000 Challenger in Bastad.
In the ITF Futures in China, Vishnu Vardhan pulled through into the quarterfinals with a third set tie-break victory over Mu Tao of China. Dhruthi Venugopal lost her second round of singles but as the second seed with Chieh-Yu Hsu of Chinese Taipei, she made the doubles semifinals.
Two of the former Asian junior girls champions, Rutuja Bhosale and Prajnala Yadlapalli, made it to the second round in Egypt. Shweta Rana had a mixed bag in Georgia, as she lost to Alexandra Walters of Australia but made the doubles quarterfinals with Martina Colmegna of Italy.
The results
USD 75,000 Challenger men, Winnetka, U.S.
Singles (first round): Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Bradley Klahn (US) 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(9).
EUR 43,000 Challenger men, Bastad, Sweden
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sriram Balaji & Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Markus Eriksson & Milos Sekulic (Swe) 4-6, 6-4, 10-6.
USD 25,000 ITF men, Shenzhen, China
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Vishnu Vardhan bt Mu Tao (Chn) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(3).
Doubles (quarterfinals): Francis Casey Alcantara (Phi) & Karunuday Singh bt He Yecong (Chn) & Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (Tha) 7-6(3), 2-6, 10-3.
USD 15,000 ITF women, Hua Hin, Thailand
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Naomi Cheong (US) bt Dhruthi Venugopal 6-0, 7-5.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Chieh-Yu Hsu (Tpe) & Dhruthi Venugopal bt Watsachol Sawasdee & Dolavee Tumthong (Tha) 6-1, 6-3.
USD 15,000 ITF women, Telavi, Georgia
Singles (first round): Alexandra Walters (Aus) bt Shweta Rana 6-1, 7-5.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Martina Colmegna (Ita) & Shweta Rana bt Anastasia Bovolskaya (Rus) & Lana Kentchiashvili (Geo) 6-3, 1-6, 10-4.
USD 15,000 ITF women, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
Singles (first round): Rutuja Bhosale bt Andrina Peer (Sui) 7-5, 6-0; Pranjala Yadlapalli bt Oleksandra Andrieieva (Ukr) 6-2, 6-1.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rutuja Bhosale & Kanika Vaidya bt Ellen Ashley (Aus) & Kamila Kokeladze (Rus) 6-2, 6-1; Karolayne Alexandre Da Rosa (Bra) & Agustina Chlpac (Arg) bt Mariagiovanna Nanti (Ita) & Tanisha Rohira 6-4, 6-4.
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