Ramkumar Ramanathan recorded the second-biggest win of his career by shocking world number 98 Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the opening round of the ATP Chennai Open but there was no end to Somdev Devvarman’s struggle as he was knocked out here on Tuesday.
Making a stupendous start to his 2016 season, wild card entrant Ramkumar annihilated his Spanish opponent 6-2, 6-0 as the Chennai-lad enthralled the sparse crowd by playing with lot of passion and power.
All he needed was one hour to move to the second round where world number 12 South African Kevin Anderson awaits him.
“I did not think of such a quick win. I was giving my best on every point. I knew it will be tough. I gave (played with lot of positive) attitude. I was staying positive, professional,” Ramkumar said.
Somdev, ranked 177th, lost 3-6, 6-3, 3-6 to 18-year old Andrey Rublev in the first round.
Somdev has not won a main draw singles match on ATP Tour since September 2014 when he had beaten China’s Xin Gao at Shenzen Open.
On Monday night, Mahesh Bhupathi and Gilles Muller of luxembourg lost to Raveen Klaasen (Russia) and Rajeev Ram (USA) 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-10 in the doubles pre-quarterfinal.