Ramkumar in final round qualifying at PMRDA Powered MahaOpen ATP Challenger 100 Men’s Championship

Pune, 16th February 2025: Unseeded Ramkumar Ramanathan upset top-seeded Elias Ymer of Sweden to enter the final round qualifying of the  PMRDA Powered Maha Open ATP Challenger 100 Men’s  Tennis Championship organized by Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) in association with the Department of Sports and Youth Services Govt of Maharashtra, PCMC, PMC and PMDTA at the Mhalunge Balewadi Tennis Stadium.

The 30-year-old from Chennai Ramkumar exacted his revenge for his  Davis Cup loss against the top-seeded Elias Ymer winning 5-7,6-1,6-4 in a 1 hour 52 minutes match. The 28-year-old Ymer who had got past Ramanathan in the Davis Cup between India and Sweden played solidly to wrap up the first set, but Ramkumar moved well serving and volleying and attacking Ymer to win the second set, Ramkumar couldn’t break Ymer in the third game, but broke in the fifth game to go up. Ramkumar currently ranked 403 served 9 aces in the match and won 6-4 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 number two 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 game but could not get past the experienced  Australian. Former winner of the Maha Open ATP Tour event here  Jiri Vesely ranked high 35 in the world and is now 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 before winning 7-5, 7-5, while fourth-seeded  Blake Ellis of Australia quelled a first set Challenge before accounting 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

Results: First Qualifying Round:
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