Today has been a proud day for Indian Tennis as the 22-year-old Ramkumar Ramanathan took everyone by surprise after beating the French Open 2017 semi-finalist Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-2 at the Antalya Open in Turkey.
Ramanathan who is ranked 222 in the ATP rankings produced one of his best performances in a game that lasted just a minute under an hour. He broke early in the first set and was ahead 4-1 before taking it 6-3. In the second set too he broke early with the scores at 2-2 and went on to clinch that set 6-2.
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Ramanathan came into the limelight when he defeated then Indian No. 1 Somdev Devvarman in the first round of the Aircel Chennai Open 2014. “I worked really hard for this,” he said after defeating Thiem, “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.”
Dominic Thiem had been in sublime touch after defeating Novak Djokovic in the French Open 2017 quarter finals and was the favourite to win the title at Antalya. Ramanathan hit 10 aces to overcome the Austrian. He moved into the tournament through the qualifiers and had defeated 68-ranked Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-3, 6-4 in the first round to set up a match against Thiem.
Ramanathan will now face 79th-ranked Marcos Baghdatis in the quarter finals.
