Ramkumar Ramanathan fought again from the brink, from a set and three match factors down, to beat France’s Maxime Janvier 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-4 and enter the second spherical of the Bengaluru Open ATP Challenger, right here on Monday.
The wild card entrant’s keep within the singles draw on the Backyard Metropolis appeared set to finish the identical manner because it had final week in Chennai — with a first-round defeat.
However the 29-year-old clawed his manner again miraculously for less than his first predominant draw match win since November 2022.
On the day, fortunes swung forwards and backwards within the opening set as Ramkumar and Janvier couldn’t calibrate their video games to match the pomp of the immaculately laid KSLTA courts contained in the leafy and pristine Cubbon Park.
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The duo traded breaks early on and the competition inevitably slipped right into a tie break. As soon as there, Ramkumar made the primary transfer, going up 4-1. However Janvier reeled off six straight factors to pocket the set.
Within the second stanza, the 2 saved tempo with one another till one unhealthy service sport at 4-5 noticed Ramkumar staring down the barrel. Nonetheless, he saved all three match factors, levelled at 5-5 and broke to go 6-5 up.
That final return sport confirmed his heightened confidence, particularly the fierce slapped return to carry up the break level.
Ramkumar carried that perception, first to carry serve to take the match into the decider after which break Janvier’s serve within the third sport of the third set. From there on, there was no trying again for the Indian.
RESULTS (Indians until specified)
Spherical one: Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Maxime Janvier (Fra) 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-4; Moez Echargui (Tun) bt Duje Ajdukovic (Cro) 6-2, 6-4; Gauthier Onclin (Bel) bt Giovanni Fonio (Ita) 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(5).
Qualifying last spherical: Chun-Hsin Tseng (Tpe) bt Yun Seong Chung (Kor); 7-5, 4-6, 6-2; Alexey Zakharov bt Vadym Ursu (Ukr) 6-4, 6-3; Bernard Tomic (Aus) bt Jonas Forejtek (Cze) 6-4, 6-2; Eric Vanshelboim (Ukr) bt Enzo Wallart (Fra) 6-1, 6-2; Raphael Collignon (Bel) bt Dan Added (Fra) 6-4, 6-2; Samuel Vincent Ruggeri (Ita) bt Kris Van Wyk (Rsa) 6-0, 6-2.