Hall of Fame Open 2018: Ramkumar Ramanathan makes it to his first ever ATP semi-final

Ramkumar Ramanathan reached his first career semi-final in the Hall of Fame Open in Newport by defeating World No. 98 Canadian Vasek Pospisil at the $623,710 ATP tennis tournament on Friday, July 20.

The 161st ranked Ramkumar Ramanathan won his quarter-final in one hour and 18 minutes to make the last-four stage of this ATP 250 tournament. The Chennai tennis ace ousted Dominican Victor Burgos 6-4, 6-1 in his opening round and then he upset eighth seed Denis Kudla of the USA in three sets by 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round.

Ramanathan had earlier played in the quarter-finals of the Chennai Open in 2016 and the Antalya Open in 2017, but he couldn't make it to the semi-finals on both occasions

Second Indian to reach ATP semi-finals since Devvarman

This is the first time in seven years any Indian reaches the semi-finals on the ATP circuit. The last Indian to reach the semi-final of an ATP World Tour event was Somdev Devvarman.

Somdev reached the final of two ATP 250 events – Chennai Open and SA Tennis Open, but he failed to win the championship in both tournaments. After Somdev Devvarman, Ramkumar Ramanathan becomes the second Indian to reach the semi-finals of an ATP World Tour event.

Ramanathan will play against Tim Smyczek of the United States of America in the semi-finals of the Hall of Fame Open and both of them have never played each other before. It is also the first time that Tim Smyczek reached in the semi-finals of the ATP event and their triumphs ensure one of them will reach his first ATP singles championship match on Sunday.

Ramkumar will hope to emulate the feat of Leander Paes, who won the title at Newport 20 years ago.