Ramanathan last Indian standing

KOLKATA: Between Ramkumar Ramanathan and a second Challenger semifinal berth is the oldest man in the singles competition of the Kolkata Open. Chinese Taipei’s Ti Chen is 31 and turned pro in 2002 when Ramanathan was seven.

That Chen, ranked 37 slots higher than Ramanathan at 230, is a dangerous floater can be gauged from his taking out Australian Luke Saville, the fifth seed, in the first round and defending champion Ilija Bozoljac-conqueror Frederico Silva in the next. Of the five foreigners who played here last year, Chen is the only player to have made successive quarterfinals.

But Ramanathan, the last Indian standing in the singles competition, tamed Chen the only time he made a Challenger semifinal, in Indore last year.

The synthetic courts of the Bengal Tennis Association complex have been re-laid and most players feel it is slower than the ones used last week in New Delhi. After ending Yuki Bhambri’s tournament with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 win, Moldovan Radu Albot, the sixth seed, even felt that the balls here are slower. RAMKUMAR RAMANATHAN

That means this $50,000 prize money meet, being played in energy-sapping conditions, is a bigger test of staying power than New Delhi was. Ramanathan, 20, and Chen go into Thursday’s match on the back of successive three-setters and the Indian said he would try and be more aggressive in the quarterfinal even if that means he missed a few.

It’s been a trait of his game here. Despite a total of 18 double faults, 10 of which came in the pre-quarterfinal against Miki Jankovic of Serbia, including two after a time violation warning while leading 6-5, 30-0 in the decider, Ramanathan banks on his big serve and a backhand slice. “I like playing the slice, I played it a bit more because Vijay rightly advised me to mix them up,” said Ramanathan after winning 6-1, 5-7, 7-5. He was referring to N Vijay Sundar Prashant who beat Jankovic in the qualifiers in New Delhi.