Indian challenge ends at Rafa Nadal Open in Spain

By Saurabh Singh | AITA

After a prolific run at the Challenger 80 category tournament, Rafa Nadal Open, the Indian challenge has come to a halt in Mallorca, Spain. India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan endured a tough loss in his singles Quarter-Finals against Japanese top seed Yasutaka Uchiyama which was followed by a missed opportunity to make the doubles final by the all Indian pairing of Ramkumar Ramanathan and N. Sriram Balaji.

Ramanathan, playing against a Top 125 player in the world Uchiyama, got off to a positive start when he took the first set 6-4. However, he could not keep the pressure on and lost the next two sets 4-6 and 6-7 to bow out of the tournament at the quarters stage after a lengthy battle of cut-throat tennis lasting two hours and 35 minutes.

In the doubles Semi-finals featuring, the third-seeded Indian team of Ramanathan and Balaji and their second-seeded opponents Fernando Romboli of Brazil and his Polish partner Jan Zielinski fought for 70 minutes with the second seeds advancing to the finals with a straight-set win 6-2, 7-6.

File Photo