There was no time for Ramkumar Ramanathan to run deep into the left side of his court, like he has become so used to, to play an inside-out forehand. Marcel Granollers had launched another big serve towards the Indian’s backhand — a well-known weakness and a go-to shot for anyone struggling against the Chennai lad. In the weeks preceding the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune, India’s only ATP level event, Ramkumar was training at the Sanchez-Casal Academy in Spain working on that very flaw. “I was there working on my backhand for two weeks. I’ve been playing it better now,” he says. At the time of Granollers’ last-resort serve, the Spaniard was facing a breakpoint at 1-2 in the third set of their first-round match. All that work in the off-season had prepared Ramkumar well to face that serve. The full-blooded two-handed drive dipped viciously at the service-line where the onrushing Granollers’ had reached during his charge to the net. The 32-year-old managed to get the shot back, deep into the Indian’s forehand corner. Ramkumar bolted, reached the ball and struck a forehand cross-court pass on the run. In that one quick rally, he combined a backhand (his weakness), with his weapon of a forehand to earn the break. Soon he’d utilise his other sharpened weapon, his serve, to win the match 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Tuesday’s order of play had three of the four Indian singles players in the main draw competing for a spot in the second round. A day earlier, the highest-ranked Prajnesh Gunneswaran had fallen to world no 103 American Michael Mmoh. And before Ramkumar took to the court, Saketh Myneni, who fought admirably to rise through the qualifiers, pulled out due to a foot injury. Later on, local lad Arjun Kadhe lost out to world no 93 Laslo Djere 7-5, 7-6. Ramkumar was the only one to win, and apart from Prajnesh, was the only one playing an opponent without a large gap in the rankings (36 spots separate Granollers at 96 to the 132-ranked Indian). And on the night, the 24-year-old held his end in a rather feisty affair. “I really wanted to win today. I went out there and gave my best,” he said after the match. He did require a few moments of solitude — taking a toilet break after losing the first set. His recently-adopted and often forced tactic of playing serve-and-volley had not been working against the veteran, who is an avid user of the same strategy. “I took the break to slow it down a bit,” he says. “Things were running quickly and I wasn’t able to have a look at his serve. I wanted to regroup myself, I told myself to make a lot of first serves, and also I had to start to try and mix things up.” The rush to the net reduced and Ramkumar started trading strokes from the baseline, creating opportunities and space for himself using the big forehand. Time and again though, when Granollers looked for an outlet on the Ramkumar backhand, the Indian was ready. At 15-15 with Granollers serving at 2-5 in the third set, Ramkumar calmly played a double-handed cross-court pass - just like he had done on a couple of earlier occasions on the night. It’s the mix now that he’s starting to look for in his game - being able to hit off both flanks, and working shots from both the baseline and at the net. “I should have that mix,” he says. “From the back, I’ve been comfortable. And today I stayed consistent, stuck to it and gave good energy.” On the night he gave a good account of himself, but will have to push further to achieve the desired level of consistency, when he faces the explosive Malek Jaziri in the second round. Bopanna/Sharan to face Paes/Reyes-Varela While the Indian singles players toiled on centre court, the doubles veterans played their Round-of-16 matches on the outside. India’s gold-medal winning pair from the Asian Games Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan made quick work of the team of Jaziri and Radu Albot, winning 6-1, 6-2. A short while later, 45-year-old Leander Paes teamed up with Mexican Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela to topple David Marrero and Hans Podlipnik-Castillo 6-3, 6-4. In the process, and with the fiery history within the Indian doubles contingent, the Pune courts will witness another crowd-pulling Bopanna-Paes match-up for the second consecutive year.
