India's Ramkumar Ramanathan reaches final qualifying round of Maha Open ATP Challenger event

Compatriot Sasikumar Mukund also advanced to the final round of qualifying.

Unseeded Ramkumar Ramanathan pulled off an upset against the top seeded Elias Ymer of Sweden to enter the final round qualifying of the Maha Open ATP Challenger 100 Men’s Tennis Championship at the Mhalunge Balewadi Tennis Stadium.

The 30-year-old from Chennai, Ramkumar, extracted his revenge of his Davis Cup loss against the top seeded Elias Ymer, winning 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 in match that lasted for 1 hour and 52 minutes. The 28-year-old, Ymer, who had got past Ramanathan in the Davis Cup tie between India and Sweden played solidly to wrap up the first set, but Ramkumar progressed well with his serve and volley game, attacking Ymer to win the second set.

Ramkumar couldn’t break Ymer in the third game, but did manage to get a break in the fifth game to win the match. Ramkumar, currently ranked #403, served nine aces in the match to move into the final round qualifying.

In the matches featuring other Indians, sixth seeded Russian Ilia Simakin took 1 hour 15 minutes to get past India’s No. #2 ranked player Mukund Sasikumar winning 6-4, 6-3 to also advance to the final round qualifying. Twelfth seeded Matthew Dellavedova of Australia proved too experienced for 16-year-old Wildcard Arnav Vijay Paparkar winning 6-2, 6-3.

Paparkar showed glimpses of his quality but could not get past the experienced Australian. Former winner of the Maha Open ATP Tour and currently ranked 35 in the world, Jiri Vesely, who is making a comeback, proved strong for local wildcard Siddhant Banthia winning 6-2, 6-3.

Eleventh seeded South African Kris Van Wyk was given a fight by wildcard entrant Nitin Kumar Sinha, eventually winning 7-5, 7-5, while fourth seeded Blake Ellis of Australia quelled a first set challenge before accounting for another Indian wildcard Sidharth Rawat 7-5 ,6-2.

In the other two upsets of the day Russian Petr Bar Biryukov upset second seeded Oleksandr Ovcharenko of Ukraine 6-3, 7-6(6) , while Japanese Hiroki Moriya ousted fifth seeded Jacopo Berrettini of Italy 7-5, 6-3.

MahaOpen ATP Challenger First Qualifying Round Results

• Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt [1] Elias Ymer (SWE) 5-7, 6-1, 6-4
• Petr Bar Biryukov bt [2] Oleksandr Ovcharenko (UKR) 6-3, 7-6(6)
• [3] Michael Geerts (BEL) bt [Alt] Yurii Dzhavakian (UKR) 6-0,6-2
• [4] Blake Ellis (AUS) bt [WC] Sidharth Rawat (IND) 7-5,6-2
• Hiroki Moriya (JPN) bt [5] Jacopo Berrettini (ITA)7-5, 6-3
• [6] Ilia Simakin bt Mukund Sasikumar (IND) 6-4, 6-3
• [7] Kimmer Coppejans (BEL) bt [Alt] Hynek Barton (CZE) 6-3, 7-6(5);
• [9] Masamichi Imamura (JPN) bt [Alt] Kasidit Samrej (THA) 3-6,7-6(4),6-4
• [10] Jiri Vesely (CZE) bt [WC] Siddhant Banthia (IND) 6-2, 6-3
• [11] Kris Van Wyk (RSA) bt [WC] Nitin Kumar Sinha (IND) 7-5, 7-5
• [12] Matthew Dellavedova (AUS) bt [WC] Arnav Vijay Paparkar (IND) 6-2, 6-3

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