After disappointing Davis Cup and subsequently kerfuffle around who’ll take the blame for the 4-0 loss to reason, some good news has come. Ramkumar Ramanathan, who’s turned into a doubles specialist, has moved up 53 spots in the ATP live rankings in singles. Ramanathan hadn’t won a singles match since Kachreti Challenger reached the first round of the Shanghai Masters but couldn’t get past Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko.
Ramathan’s first singles win since May
Sumit Nagal, India’s top-ranked singles player, was knocked out of the first round as well. However, Nagal was ranked 83 in the world, while Ramanathan was 332nd in ATP rankings. Nagal lost to China’s hometown hero Wu Yibing in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 who is currently ranked 560 in the world, while Shevchenko, Ramanathan’s opponent, is 58th in the world and won 6-1, 7-6(3).
Of course, Yibing has a career-high ranking of 54 and isn’t an easy opponent to face, but coming after a long layoff due to injury, you’d expected Nagal to do better. Meanwhile, Ramanathan’s victory can be seen as a positive. An arduous season is coming to an end, and to bag $23,250 (₹19.53 lakhs) in prize money is great for the Ramanathan.
Ramanathan has now moved up to 279 in the live rankings in what is his first singles win since May 22. Fascinatingly, he beat Ugo Blanchet in the round of 16 at the Kachreti Challenger, and he did so in the first round of qualifiers at the Shanghai Masters.
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