Page 21 - Tennis

Bengaluru Open: Ramkumar Ramanathan beats top seed Nardi, enters last 8

Indian Davis Cupper Ramkumar Ramanathan made a remarkable comeback to shock top seeded Luka Nardi to enter the singles quarterfinals of the Bengaluru Open here on Wednesday. Ramkumar, a wildcard entrant, prevailed over the Italian 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 in little over two hours in their pre-quarterfinal match at the KSLTA Stadium. The match began on an ominous note for the Indian star as Nardi broke his serve in the very first game of the opening set. From that point onwards, Ramkumar was not able to offer any kind of fight to his higher-ranked opponent, who used a heavy first serve and precise ground shots to choke his opponent. While Nardi landed a whopping 86 percent of his first serve inside the box, Ramanathan barely managed to cross the 50 percent mark. But Ramkumar seemed a totally transformed player in the second set as he engaged Nardi more effectively in rallies, exploring the deeper areas of the court to keep the Italian pinned on the baseline. After the first four games went b

Top-100 dream realised, Indian ace Sumit Nagal eyes Olympic glory next

His dream of being inside the global top-100 has been realised but Sumit Nagal is nowhere close to being a content man as the Indian tennis ace says he now faces the challenge of improving or holding on to his standing for direct entry into Grand Slams and the Paris Olympics. Nagal's victory in the recent Chennai Open propelled him to a career-high world No. 98, and he is the first Indian to achieve the feat since Prajnesh Gunneswaran did that in 2019. "Every tennis player dreams about being in the top 100. I have dreamt about being in the top 100 from a very young age and it felt very good when it happened. It was certainly an emotional day after working for years," Nagal told PTI in an interview after his first-round win in the Bengaluru Open on Tuesday night. The 26-year-old, who is seeded second here, entered the second round of the tournament with a breezy 6-2, 6-2 win over Frenchman Geff Blancaneaux. But he is not ready to rest on his laurels and has set his eyes on bigger ..

Nagal jumps 23 places to break into top-100 of ATP singles rankings

India's leading singles player Sumit Nagal on Monday jumped 23 spots to break into the top-100 of the ATP singles rankings for the first time in his career. The win at the Chennai Open challenger event on Sunday pushed Nagal to 98th in the latest singles rankings led by Serbian Novak Djokovic. Last month, Nagal had become the first Indian to beat a seeded player at a Grand Slam in 35 years when he upset then world no.27 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in the first round. He eventually lost to China's Juncheng Shang in the second round. Nagal is the first Indian to feature in the top-100 since left-handed Prajnesh Gunneswaran made the cut in 2019. "I'm very emotional. You know, every tennis player's dream is to be top 100 at least. And like I said earlier, to win this match in front of the home crowd in your own country, I don't think I could have asked for a better place," Nagal said after his victory in Chennai on Sunday. "I don't think there were words, everyone was crying. Less

Nagal and Ramkumar draw French rivals in opening round of Bengaluru Open

Indian ace Sumit Nagal is pitted against Geoffrey Blancaneaux, while wild card entrant Ramkumar Ramanathan will face Maxime Janvier in the men's singles main draw of the Bengaluru Open beginning here on Monday. World ranked 121 Nagal will aim to extend his dominance over Blancaneaux, whom he has beaten three times, including in the Australian Open Qualifiers. India No 2 Ramkumar has a 1-1 head-to-head record against Janiver and if he clears the first round hurdle, he is likely to run into top-seed Italian Luca Nardi, who has been drawn to meet a qualifier in his opening round. Australian Adam Walton has been seeded third and will open his campaign against Indian wild card entrant Prajwal Dev. In the doubles main draw, Frenchman Dan Added and Korea's Yun Seong Chung have been given the top billing and will clash with the Australian pair Tristan Schoolkate and Adam Walton. Australia's Christopher Matthew Romios and Poland's Piotr Matuszewski are seeded second and will take on Taipei

India's Davis Cup heroes to headline Bengaluru Open tennis tournament

Fresh from their Davis Cup win over Pakistan, four Indians including Ramkumar Ramanathan and N Sriram Balaji will be in action in the Bengaluru Open slated to be held from February 12-18. India's top singles player Sumit Nagal, who opted out of the Davis Cup, will also be seen in action, having earned a direct entry by virtue of his 137th rank. The cut-off for the Bengaluru Open was 257. At the Australian Open last month, Nagal had knocked out world number 27 Alexander Bublik in the first round of the main draw. In the doubles, Ramkumar has partnered big-serving compatriot Saketh Myneni, while Balaji has teamed up with Germany's Andre Begemann. Ramkumar and Myneni won the doubles title in 2022. World Ranked 78 Balaji and Begeman (WR 201) will be the third-seeded team in the 16-team draw with a combined rank of 279. Myneni (WR 107) and Ramkumar (WR 210) are the sixth-best team in terms of their combined rank of 317. The top-ranked team in the event will be of Frenchman Dan Added

Staying fit and breaking into top-100 Nagal's focus ahead of Paris Olympics

Ace Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal on Tuesday said staying fit and breaking into top-100 in world rankings will be his focus ahead of the Paris Olympics later this year. The 26-year-old from Haryana has had his share of brushes with injuries in the past, having missed qualifying for the 2018 US Open due to an injury. In 2021, he suffered a hip injury before undergoing surgery in November of that year. "Staying fit would be the highest priority. The second (goal) would be to play in the Olympics, which would be a nice feeling. But for that, you need to be within the top 100," Nagal responded to a PTI query in an interaction during the ongoing Chennai Open ATP Challenger event, where he is through to the pre-quarterfinals. Currently ranked 121 in the ATP singles, Nagal is confident of breaking into the top 100. "It (Olympic qualification) would only be possible if I keep winning the matches. I have to focus on upcoming matches and not wonder about what's going to happen in the nex

Davis Cup: Ramkumar pips Aisam, hands India 1-0 lead against Pakistan

Ramkumar Ramanathan overcame a fighting Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi in a tight opening singles to hand India a 1-0 lead over Pakistan in the Davis Cup World Group I play-off, here Saturday. Ramkumar lost the first set after battling hard against a fired up Aisam, much to the delight of partisan crowd, but bounced back to emerge a 6-7(3) 7-6(4), 6-0 winner at Islamabad Sports Complex in freezing cold conditions. Aisam struggled to contain his double faults while Ramkumar began to return better as the match progressed. N Sriram Balaji will now take on Aqeel Khan in the second singles of the tie. Aisam played out of his skin to make it a match but struggled with his left hamstring at the start of the third set. He lost steam towards the end. Ramkumar saved two break points in game eight of second set and that eventually became crucuial in then outcome of the match. Ramkumar quickly overcame the initial jitters to serve out the opening game at love with an ace. Points were long when Aisam s

Bopanna: Long-playing record

Compared to other Indian doubles specialists, Bopanna isn't a front-runner, but he may be the last Indian tennis champion for some time to come

Chennai Open 2023: Sumit Nagal to spearhead Indian men's singles challenge

Sumit Nagal, who recently became the first Indian to beat a seeded player in a Grand Slam tournament, will spearhead the Indian challenge in the men's singles competition of the Chennai Open ATP Challenger 100 tournament beginning Sunday. The 26-year-old Nagal had entered the second round of the Australian Open last month after beating world no. 27 and number 31 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan. He is currently ranked 121 in the world. Ramkumar Ramanathan and Mukund Sasikumar will the other Indians in the fray in men's singles as they were among three players who were handed wild cards for the main draw. Luca Nardi of Italy has been given the top billing as players from 14 countries will be taking part in the tournament here. Last year's winner Max Purcell of Australia will not be competing this time as he is featuring in other ATP events. In the doubles category, India's Arjun Kadhe and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan are the top seeds. The tournament is the first of the four Challenger

Chennai Open: It is better to play Challengers at home feels Vijay Amritraj

Indian tennis players must concentrate on the Challengers at the moment and will be better off playing regularly at home than going overseas, the country's former star Vijay Amritraj suggested on Thursday. Amritraj, who beat legends such as Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Rod Laver in his heyday, spoke to PTI ahead of next week's Chennai Open Challenger. He said the tournament gives the Indian players a great opportunity to earn ranking points. "It's give them an opportunity. If you don't get the opportunity, you can't even try. You're better off playing in India than going somewhere else to get points. The cost, competition and home turf -- all these things matter," Amritraj said. "For us (Indians), we don't need to stretch that far. First, we need to get into a tournament. If we can't get into the Challengers, no point talking about Grand Slams. "You expect someone like Sumit (Nagal) and Mukund (Sasikumar) to perform better than he could have fared overseas. So, localised tournamen

Soccer-mad Italy now obsessed with Australian Open winner Jannik Sinner

Soccer-mad Italy has a new obsession. Jannik Sinner's performance on the tennis court has captured the country's attention. And not just for the way Sinner rallied from two sets down to beat Daniil Medvedev and win the Australian Open title on Sunday. Ever since Sinner reached the ATP Finals championship match at home in Turin and then played a leading role in leading Italy to the Davis Cup title on consecutive weeks in November, he's been taking over the headlines from soccer. "Jannik Sinner wrote a new page of history today that fills us with pride, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni wrote on Facebook. It's an achievement worthy of a real champion. The Turin final was the most watched tennis match of all time on Italian television, with 6.7 million viewers. It wouldn't be surprising if Sunday's match turns out to have an even bigger audience, even though it was shown only on Pay TV, starting at 9:30 a.m., in Sinner's home country. It's a testament to the 22-year-old Sinner's clean-c

Sinner rallies from 2 sets down to win Australian Open final vs Medvedev

Jannik Sinner rallied from two sets down to take the Australian Open final from Daniil Medvedev 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday and clinch his first Grand Slam title. The 22-year-old Sinner was playing in a major final for the first time and got there by ending Novak Djokovic's long domination of the tournament in a semifinal upset. He's the first Italian to win the Australian Open title. For 2021 U.S. Open champion Medvedev, the loss was his fifth in six major finals. The third-seeded Medvedev set a record with his fourth five-set match of the tournament and time on court at a major in the Open era, surpassing Carlos Alcaraz's 23:40 at the 2022 U.S. Open. Medvedev lost back-to-back finals here to Djokovic in 2021 and to Rafael Nadal after holding a two-set lead the following year. He won three five-set matches to reach the championship match this time and had two comebacks from two sets down. Sinner only dropped one set through six rounds in a third-set tiebreaker against ...

Australian Open 2024: Sinner vs Medvedev live match starts at 2 PM IST

People in India can live stream the Australian Open 2024 final between Italy's Jannik Sinner and Russia's Daniil Medvedev on Sunday, January 28

Australian Open: Rohan Bopanna becomes oldest man to win Grand Slam title

Rohan Bopanna became only the third Indian to win a men's doubles Grand Slam title, taking the Australian Open crown with partner Matthew Ebden following a commanding win over Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori, here on Saturday. In a high-quality game of tennis, second seeded Bopanna and Ebden won 7-6(0) 7-5 in the final that lasted one hour and 39 minutes. Only the iconic Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have won Major titles for India in men's tennis while trailblazer Sania Mirza did it in women's tennis. For Bopanna it is his second Grand Slam title, having won the French Open mixed doubles with Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski in 2017. At 43, Bopanna also became the oldest Grand Slam champion in men's tennis. He bettered the record of Jean-Julien Rojer who, at age of 40, had lifted the French Open men's doubles trophy in 2022 with Marcelo Arevola. It was such hard-fought battle at the Rod Laver arena that the contest featured only one break of serve when Vavassori dropped his ser

Don't write off Novak Djokovic after his Australian Open loss to Sinner

It might be tempting to see some tidy symbolism and greater significance in Novak Djokovic's loss to Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open semifinals. The end of the thirtysomething Djokovic's 33-match winning streak at Melbourne Park. The end of his bid for an 11th championship there and 25th Grand Slam trophy overall. The breakthrough for the twentysomething Sinner, an up-and-coming talent who will now get to play in his first major final, against Daniil Medvedev on Sunday. Then again, that was the sort of passing-of-the-torch oversimplification some folks found in Djokovic's loss to another kid, Carlos Alcaraz, in last year's Wimbledon final. And what happened a couple of months later? Djokovic claimed the US Open title as part of a 19-match unbeaten run. So don't be too quick to write off the 36-year-old from Serbia this time, either, as he essentially told the world himself after bowing out 6-1 6-2 6-7(6) 6-3 against Sinner on Friday. "Doesn't necessarily mean that it's beginni

Australian Open 2024: Aryna Sabalenka clinches back-to-back titles

Aryna Sabalenka clinched back-to-back Australian Open titles with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Zheng Qinwen on Saturday in a one-sided women's final. The No. 2-seeded Sabalenka broke Zheng's serve in the second game and took the first set in 33 minutes. She broke again to start the second set and maintained her dominance throughout against the No. 12-seeded Zheng. It's been an amazing couple of weeks. It's an unbelievable feeling right now," Sabalenka said in the trophy presentation. "As usual, my speech is going to be weird it's not my super power. Only two things slowed down Sabalenka's progress Saturday to her second Grand Slam singles title. In the third game of the second set, with Zheng serving, the match was interrupted after an activist started yelling out. The match continued after the man was escorted out by security. Then, when she was serving for the match, Sabalenka had three championship points at 40-0 but missed two with wide or long forehands and another with Zheng's clev

Davis Cup: Indian team frets over visa denial to reserve player Prajwal Dev

Captain Rohit Rajpal worked on Saketh Myneni's volleys while N Sriram Balaji was getting used to not hitting in the alleys as the Indian Davis Cup team continued its preparations for the upcoming tie against Pakistan here Friday. Coach Zeeshan Ali threw more balls on Myneni's body and Rajpal advised him to keep his head a bit down and still. "Do not go up on your toes, keep your feet grounded when you make contact," said Rajpal. Myneni applied and immediately felt the difference. This was because it is a bit difficult for taller players to move sideways, and rivals feed a lot of ball on the body. Myneni has been peppered with such balls on the Tour and Rajpal wanted his player to be ready for the challenge. Ramkumar Ramanathan's grunts echoed around Delhi Gymkhana. He first played sets with Balaji and then also practiced with Niki Poonacha, who is also being prepared for the singles matches. BALAJI TO PLAY SINGLES ================= Most likely it will be Balaji who will do the s

Australian Open 2024: Medvedev wins five-setter to meet Sinner in final

Jannik Sinner ended one of Novak Djokovic's perfect streaks in an Australian Open upset and then got to relax while Daniil Medvedev rallied from two sets down to beat Alexander Zverev after midnight to secure the other place in the final. For a self-described tennis fan, just everything went Sinner's way in the semifinals Friday. The 22-year-old Italian broke Djokovic's serve twice in each of the first two sets in a surprisingly lopsided 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-3 victory that ended the 10-time champion's unbeaten streak in semifinals at Rod Laver Arena. Almost an hour after missing a match point in the tiebreaker, Sinner converted his second to complete his third win in four head-to-heads since losing to Djokovic in last year's Wimbledon semifinals. I learned a lot from that, he said of that Wimbledon loss and his subsequent wins. "It gives you a better feeling when you know that you can beat one player. "The confidence from the end of last year has for sure kept the belief. Third-s

Rohan Bopanna and Joshna Chinappa among people shortlisted for Padma Shri

Tennis star Rohan Bopanna, who is set to be crowned world number one in the doubles format, was on Thursday selected for the prestigious Padma Shri honour by the government along with six other athletes including veteran squash player Joshna Chinappa. Padma Shri is fourth highest civilian honour after Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan which is conferred to achievers for their distinguished service in any field. Bopanna has been a consistent performer and will be oldest world number one when new rankings will be issued on Monday. Bopanna has the opportunity to win his first ever men's doubles major title on Saturday when he takes court with partner Matthew Ebden to compete in the Australian Open final. Bopanna, 43, is only the fourth Indian to win a Grand Slam trophy, a mixed doubles title he won with Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski at the French Open in 2017. The 37-year-old Joshna has won multiple medals at Asian Games and two-time CWG medallist. She has also wo

Australian Open 2024: One semi-final loss not beginning of end for Djokovic

A solitary loss in 11 semi-finals at the Australian Open was nowhere near enough for Novak Djokovic to contemplate a generational change in tennis. Djokovic didn't get a look at a breakpoint during a 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-3 loss to Jannik Sinner on Friday that ended the 10-time Australian Open champion's unbeaten streak after making the final four at Melbourne Park. He commended the 22-year-old Italian for playing flawless tennis it was Sinner's third win over Djokovic in their last four matches but rated his performance as the worst he could remember at a major. This tournament hasn't been up to my standard or criteria or the level that I would normally play or expect myself to play, Djokovic said, "but doesn't necessarily mean that it's beginning of the end, you know, as some people like to call it. Let's see what happens in the rest of the season. The 36-year-old Djokovic has been dealing with illness and a sore right wrist this month in Australia and wasn't at his peak, by hi