Ramkumar shocks World No. 8 Dominic Thiem
27 Jun 2017 5:02 PM GMT
India's top singles player Ramkumar Ramanathan on Tuesday recorded the biggest win of his nascent singles career - a stunning straight-set 6-3-6-2 victory over world No 8 Dominic Thiem in the pre-quarter finals of the Antalya Open here. The unheralded Ramkumar, ranked 222 in the world, brushed aside the Austrian challenge in only 59 minutes to make it to the last eight of the USD 439,000 prize-money tournament. This was his first-ever victory over a top-10 player in the ATP rankings.
He will face veteran Cyprus star Marcos Baghdatis in the quarter-final.
"I worked really hard for this win," Ramanathan said after the match. "I thank the crowd for coming out and cheering. I like the grass courts. Courts are fast. I took my chances and it worked out. I am having a great time here and thanks to the organisers," he added.
It was in the eighth game of the second set that the 22-year-old Chennai lad served an ace to finish the match.
There was no celebration as he calmly touched the court and shook hands with this year's French Open semi-finalist Thiem. "What an exciting win for @ramkumar1994 .. beating a top 10 player should give him a lot of self belief on what he could be capable of," India's Davis Cup captain Mahesh Bhupathi tweeted after the sensational win.
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