Kalaburagi, Dec 3:
Ramkumar Ramanathan inched towards his second back to back ITF M25K title with an almost flawless victory against Ryotaro Taguchi of Japan to reach the finals of the Ultratech Cement ITF Kalaburagi Open.
In the semifinals played at the Chandrashekhar Patil Stadium courts here on Saturday, the lanky player brushed aside the visitor’s challenge in just 65 minutes to register a 6-2, 6-1 victory.
In the title clash, the fifth seeded Indian will meet seventh seed David Pichler of Austria who, in a minor upset, scored a 6-2, 6-4 win against the second seeded Matsuda Ryuki of Japan.
Meanwhile, Ryuki and Taguchi paired together and lifted the doubles crown. The Japanese duo dropped a set against the Indo-Austrian pair of Nitin Kumar Sinha and David Pichler before prevailing 6-4, 2-6, 10-7 to earn the winner’s cheque of US$ 1550 and 25 ATP points. The runners-up had to settle for a prize money of $ 900 and 16 ATP points.
Ramkumar, who won the ITF Mumbai Open last week, was in a crushing mood as he served with aplomb and returned with vengeance. The first five games went with the serve with both players indulging in relentless attack. The Japanese was the first to yield as he lost his serve in the sixth game, which increased the 29-year-old Indian’s confidence. With a big serve he won the 7th game and after a long battle in the eighth game, broke Taguchi’s serve to clinch the set 6-2.
The Indian Davis Cup team member and Asian Games Silver Medallist, Ramanathan went even better in the second set and displayed complete dominance on the court. The best that the Japanese could do was to hold his serve in the second game as Ramkumar sent a flurry of winners from either flanks, which had the Saturday crowd in frenzy. With breaks in the 4th and the 6th games, the taller of the two opponents wrapped up the set at 6-1.
