Kadhe shocks Ramkumar, young Sasi knocks out Myneni

Local favourite Arjun Kadhe stunned second seed Ramkumar Ramanathan for the biggest victory of his career while fast-emerging Sasi Kumar Mukund knocked out last week's runner-up Saketh Myneni at the KPIT-MSLTA Challenger here on Tuesday.

This is the best win for Kadhe in terms of beating a higher-ranked player as he sent packing world number 130 Ramkumar 6-3 6-2 in the opening round of the USD 50,000 hard court tournament.

Prior to Tuesday's win, the most significant win for the 370th-ranked Kadhe was against world no. 200 Pedja Krstin.

It has been a tough season for Ramkumar and it ended with a whimper. Kadhe who is playing his second season after returning from US Collegiate circuit, was fluent with his strokes, especially the deep returns.

Ramkumar served big but unforced errors did not help his cause. Kadhe, to his credit, was well prepared for his opponent.

"I was on top of my game. I knew him from junior days and had practised with him during the Serbia tie. I knew I can beat any Indian player," said Kadhe.

The Pune lad said he took it as just a match while last year, he was very excited playing before home crowd. He had made a first round exit in 2017.

"Today I served well. He was also serving well but key was to be patient and let him take charge on his serve. I was hitting the ball harder than what I was doing at the Nationals."