Ramkumar Ramanathan's good run at the Chennai Open continued today as he combined with compatriot N Sriram Balaji to knock out fourth seeded Kiwi pair of Artem Sitak and Marcus Daniel to storm into the doubles quarterfinals, here today.
The wild card Indian pair came from behind to shock the
seasoned New Zealand team 2-6 7-6 (5) 10-5 in the opening round.
It was the same Kiwi team that had beaten the Indian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Saketh Myneni in last year's Davis Cup Asia/Oceania second round.
Ramkumar had yesterday shocked world number 98 Daniel Gimero-Traver 6-2 6-0 in his singles first round.
Ramkumar, who trains in Spain and Balaji, who trains in Germany came back well after losing the first set, in which they lost serve twice. Ramkumar was broken in the second game while Balaji in eighth.
The Indians broke Marcus in the third game to go one-up in the second set but Ramkumar dropped serve in the eighth. The scores were 5-5 in a neck-and-neck fight. They finally prevailed in the tie-breaker to stretch the match to Super Tie breaker.
In the deciding super tie break, the Indians led 4-2 and made it 8-4 before sealing the impressive win.
In the first match on center court today, 19-year-old Croat Borna Coric saw off the challenge of American Austin Krajicek 6-2 7-5 in 90 minutes.
Considered as a most improved youngster on the circuit, Coric compensated for his few unforced errors with his booming serves as he took the first set with a break in the seventh game.
The American fought much better in the second but Coric had every answer to his challenge. It was tight but Coric got the decisive break in 11th game and sealed the match in the next game.
