The ongoing Chennai Open, India’s only event on the ATP World Tour, might have lost some of its sheen with the big-serving Kevin Anderson dropping out, but it finally got to see some rare Indian brilliance on the singles circuit on Thursday. Twenty-one year old Ramkumar Ramanathan pulled off a minor giant-killing feat, defeating his Russian opponent Alexander Kudryavtsev, ranked more than eighty places above him, to enter the quarter-finals.
But this was not the first time Ramanathan has punched above his weight. With a world ranking of 248, he entered the Chennai Open as a wildcard and pulled off a major upset in the first round when he defeated world number 98 Daniel Gimeno-Traver in straight sets in the first round.
His second round outing proved a little more difficult. Ramanathan fell behind in the first set but, buoyed by the partisan Chennai crowd, roared back to defeat Kudryavtsev in the next two sets.
It will be even more difficult for the youngster in the quarter-final as he meets Aljaz Bedene, who is in the top 50. But considering the kind of form Ramanathan is in, anything could happen.
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