India’s 222-ranked singles player Ramkumar Ramanathan has defeated World No. 68 Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil in straight sets at the ATP 250 Antalya Open in Turkey today. The 22-year-old Indian beat his 33-year-old rival 6-3, 6-4 to proceed to round 2 at the inaugural edition of the event.
A former top-200 player, Ramanathan is mostly active on the ATP Challenger circuit and at ITF events, although he did play the first round of qualifying at Roland Garros last month; the Indian lost in the first round of qualifiers to Argentine Guido Pella.
This is Ramanathan’s first ATP250 level tournament since the Chennai Open in early January. There, the 22-year-old lost in Round 1 to the lower-ranked, but more experienced Yuki Bhambri in Round 1.
Dutra Silva is active on the ATP World Tour, interspersed with a few Challenger tournaments; he has won two Challenger titles of three finals this year. The Brazilian has played at both Grand Slams so far as well, proceeding to Round 2 at both the Australian and French Open, taking a set off top-10 player Milos Raonic in the latter.
The 33-year-old also won a doubles title on clay this year with partner Andre Sa at their home tournament, the Brasil Open, in Sao Paulo.
Ramanathan has won two titles on the ITF circuit this year, with a final on the Challenger circuit.
The Indian, who trains in Barcelona, will now face French Open semi-finalist Dominic Thiem, who has had wins over both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic on clay this year. Thiem is ranked World No. 8.
