Ramkumar Ramanathan bows out of ATP Marseille

Rising Indian tennis ace Ramkumar Ramanathan’s campaign at the Open 13 Provence in Marseille, France came to an end as he went down to German qualifier Mischa Zverev, 2-6, 5-7 in the first round on Tuesday.

The 212th ranked Indian was a wildcard at this ATP 250 event. This was also Ramkumar’s first main draw appearance at any ATP tournament outside of Asia.

It was the 21-year-old Indian’s paltry 55% first serve that let him down throughout the match. Zverev, who had formerly been a top 50 player, pushed him hard and earned 13 break points out of which he converted four.

In the first set, Ramkumar lost his serve thrice and managed to break the German just once. The 28-year-old Zverev wrapped up the opening set easily by a score of 6-2.

The Indian, who trains at the Sanchez-Casal Academy in Barcelona, competed much better in the second set and held his serve till 5-5. But it was the long 12th game where he crumbled as Zverev broke and sealed the win.

Ramkumar had begun his 2016 season on a high. At the Chennai Open in the first week of January, he reached the quarter-finals where he was edged out by the 2015 runner-up Aljaz Bedene in a thrilling three-setter. Last week, the Tamil Nadu lad scooped up double gold at the South Asian Games as he triumphed in men’s singles as well as men’s doubles.