Som stunned by Ramanathan

KOLKATA: Ramkumar Ramanathan doesn’t call himself religious. But he keeps a book which he touches before entering the court. Before games, he would touch the synthetic surface and run a hand over his head as if entering a temple.

“It’s just a ritual,” said the 20-year-old who left Chennai to train in Barcelona when he was 15.

Trailing 1-4 in the decider of his first round match of the Kolkata Open against Somdev Devvarman and facing a break of serve, Ramanathan won the next four games. The better mover of the two, Ramanathan then conquered nerves, saved another break point after a double-fault and closed out the match with a service winner.

After his 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win Ramanathan now leads Devvarman, winner of the New Delhi Challenger on Sunday, 2-1 in head-to-head.

“You try and fight every point and never stop believing,” said the Roger Federer fan.

Devvarman steeled himself to come back — literally — and win his first round doubles match with Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan but the 2-6, 6-2; 10-5 win against defending champions Saketh Myneni and Sanam Singh seemed small consolation for the man who fetched up thinking he could win another Challenger here.

“I am usually good at closing games and should have closed this match,” said Devvarman.

Tuesday showcased the present and future of men’s singles tennis in India. Yuki Bhambri began breezily enough with a 6-2, 6-2 win against Spaniard Enrique LopezPerez and Sumit Nagal had his moments against Belarussian Egor Gerasimov but couldn’t get stuck in unlike Ramanathan. With seventh-seed Alex Bolt pulling out due to a left elbow injury, Gerasimov is already in the quarter-finals.

The last year having been derailed by injury, Bhambri said he feels like he is starting all over again. “I am still learning about my body,” he said. Not playing doubles is part of that learning, he said.