<
>

Ramkumar loses to Baghdatis in quarters in Antalya

AFP PHOTO / MONEY SHARMA

India's Ramkumar Ramanathan's giant-killing run at the Antalya Open came to an end after he lost 7-6(0), 3-6, 6-7 (6) to Cyprus' Marcos Baghdatis in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

Ramkumar saved as many as five match points in the tiebreak before Baghdatis converted his sixth match point opportunity. Baghdatis raced to a 6-1 lead in the third-set tiebreak before Ramkumar levelled at 6-6. Baghdatis then won the next two points to win the match. There were no breaks of serve in the decisive set.

Ramkumar, who is ranked 222 in the world, had advanced to the quarters after defeating top seed and world No. 8 Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-2 in the second round.

Coming in as a qualifier into the event, Ramkumar had earlier beaten Brazil's world No. 68 Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-3, 6-4 in the first round.

Somdev Devvarman was the last Indian to beat a top 10 player in singles when he beat Juan Martin del Potro in the first round of the 2014 Dubai Tennis Championships, an ATP 500 tournament. However, Del Potro had withdrawn due to a wrist injury after losing the first-set tiebreak in that match.