Indian tennis roundup: Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan enters Nottingham Challenger final, Ramkumar Ramanathan loses narrowly

Indian doubles tennis ace Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan entered the final of the Nature Valley Open while Ramkumar Ramanathan bowed out narrowly from this ATP Challenger tournament held in Nottingham, Great Britain on Friday. The southpaw advanced to the doubles summit clash without even touching the racquet as the second seeded pair of Matt Reid and Adil Shamasdin gave the fourth seeds Nedunchezhiyan and Austin Krajicek a walkover.

The Indo-American pair will take on the unseeded combine of Frederik Nielsen and Joe Salisbury in the title showdown on Saturday.

The 107th ranked Nedunchezhiyan will be looking to add to his Dallas Challenger crown. The 29-year-old has found it hard to get success in finals since that win in February. He has lost his last three finals and will be hoping to reverse the result this time.

In the singles draw in the same tournament, the fifth seeded Ramkumar Ramanathan ended up on the losing side of a tight three-setter in the quarter-finals. Spanish veteran Marcel Granollers edged the Indian 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(4) in 2 hours 43 minutes.

The 128th ranked Indian produced nine aces but his good work was undone by 10 double faults. The 23-year-old earned a couple of service breaks and saved eight break points, dropping his serve only once.

Divij Sharan loses in Den Bosch

Indian doubles player Divij Sharan’s brilliant run at the Libema Open in the Netherlands came to an end as he crashed out of this ATP 250 grasscourt event in the semi-finals. The fourth seeds Sharan and Artem Sitak were outplayed 3-6, 2-6 by the second seeds Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus in just 52 minutes.

The South African-Kiwi combine hardly ever put a foot wrong and thundered five aces and won 81% of their first serve points.

This was the sixth semi-final at any ATP World Tour level tournament for Sharan. He is still searching for his first final this year.