Ramkumar puts up spirited fight before losing to Ti Chen

Indian challenge ended in the men's singles event of the Kolkata Open after Ramkumar Ramanathan's close defeat against Ti Chen in a gruelling quarterfinal, here today.
The 20-year-old lanky Tamil Nadu lad excelled in patches but his weak backhand return did him in as he went down fighting against the Chinese Taipei rival, who clinched it 6-4 3-6 7-6 (5) in a battle lasting two hour 44 minutes.
The 31-year-old seasoned campaigner will face Moldova's sixth seed Radu Albot who produced the upset of the day ousting second seed Alexander Kudryavtsev of Russia 7-6(5) 6-3.
Indian hopes now rest on the duo of Somdev Devvarman and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan in the doubles, where they face Ruben Bemelmans and Ilija Bozoljac in the semifinals tomorrow.

With all the support behind him, Ramkumar disappointed in the opening set as he squandered a 4-2 lead after breaking Chen.
He followed it up with a poor service game and with a double fault he lost the lead as Chen brought back 4-4 and wrapped it up breaking Ramkumar in the third seventh and ninth games.

As in the past, pressure once again brought the best as the screaming young lad fought his way back in the second set with a dominating display.
He played some brilliant shots in the fourth game, breaking the 31-year-old for a commanding 4-1 lead before levelling the match 6-3.

Inconsistency and a weak backhand by Ramkumar meant that Chen slowly advanced before sealing the issue in the tie-breaker.
Ramkumar dished out an array of strokes from the baseline as well from the net but at the same time he committed five double faults of which two came in the tie-breaker and it was too tough to bounce back from there.
"He's a very good player and very aggressive and I tried to match him and eventually my experienced helped me close the match. I knew he has a weak backhand so I tried to exploit him," a smiling Chen said.

The 31-year-old said, "Age is no barrier, even Roger Federer keeps it going, it's all in the mind."
Meanwhile, top seed James Duckworth of Australia, currently ranked 111, had it easy today against Egor Gerasimov winning by 6-4 6-2.
In the semi-finals, Duckworth will face Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium and ranked 139 in the world, who ended the dream run of qualifier Richard Becker by a close 6-7(5) 7-6(8) 6-2 finish.
Results (QFs)
Men's Singles: James Duckworkth (Aus) b Egor Gerasimov (Blr) 6-4 6-2; Ruben Bemelmans (Bel) b Richard Becker (Ger) 6-7 7-6 6-2; Ti Chen (Tpe) b Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4 3-6 7-6; Radu Albot (Mda) b Alexander Kudryavtsev (Rus) 7-6 6-3.

Men's Doubles: Ruben Bemelmans (Bel)/Ilija Bozoljac (Srb) b Toni Androic/Nikola Mektic 6-2 6-3; James Duckworth/Luke Saville (Aus) b Ramkumar Ramanathan/Divij Sharan 6-1 6-4. (Indians unless specified).