Pune, February 16, 2025 : Unseeded Ramkumar Ramanathan  upset top seeded Elias Ymer of Sweden to enter the final round qualifying of the  PMRDA Powered Maha Open ATP Challenger 100 Men’s Tennis Championship  organized by Maharashtra State Lawn tennis Association (MSLTA) in association with the Department of Sports and Youth Services Govt of Maharashtra, PCMC, PMC and PMDTA at the Mhalunge Balewadi Tennis Stadium.

The 30 year old from Chennai Ramkumar extracted his revenge of his  Davis Cup loss against the top seeded Elias Ymer  winning 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 in a 1 hour 52 minutes match. The 28 year Ymer who had got past Ramanathan in the Davis Cup between India and Sweden, played solidly to wrap up the first set but Ramkumar moved well serving and volleying and attacking Ymer to win the second set.

Ramkumar could not break Ymer in the third game but broke in the fifth game to go up. Ramkumar, currently ranked 403, served 9 aces in the match and won 6-4 to move into the final round qualifying.

In the matches featuring other Indians: sixth seeded Russian Ilia Simakin took 1 hour 15 minutes to get past India’s No. 2 ranked player Mukund Sasikumar winning 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the final round qualifying.

12th seeded Matthew Dellavedova of Australia proved too experienced for 16 year old Wildcard Arnav Paparkar winning 6-2, 6-3. Paparkar showed glimpses of his game but could not get  past the experienced Australian. Former winner of the Maha Open ATP Tour event  Jiri Vesely proved strong for local wildcard Siddhant Banthia winning  6-2, 6-3.

11th seeded South African Kris Van Wyk was given a fight by Wild Card entrant Nitin Kumar Sinha before winning 7-5, 7-5 while 4th seeded  Blake Ellis of Australia quelled a first set Challenge before accounting  another Indian wildcard  Sidharth Rawat 7-5 ,6-2.

In the other two upsets of the day Russian Petr Bar Biryukov upset 2nd seeded Oleksandr Ovcharenko of Ukraine 6-3, 7-6(6) while Japanese Hiroki Moriya ousted 5th seeded Jacopo Berrettini of Italy 7-5, 6-3.

First Qualifying Round: 

Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt [1] Elias Ymer (SWE) 5-7, 6-1, 6-4  

Petr Bar Biryukov bt [2] Oleksandr Ovcharenko (UKR) 6-3, 7-6(6) 

[3] Michael Geerts (BEL) bt [Alt] Yurii Dzhavakian (UKR) 6-0,6-2

[4] Blake Ellis (AUS) bt [WC] Sidharth Rawat (IND) 7-5,6-2

Hiroki Moriya (JPN) bt [5] Jacopo Berrettini (ITA)7-5, 6-3 

[6] Ilia Simakin bt Mukund Sasikumar (IND) 6-4, 6-3 

[7] Kimmer Coppejans (BEL) bt [Alt] Hynek Barton (CZE)  6-3, 7-6(5); 

[9] Masamichi Imamura (JPN) bt [Alt] Kasidit Samrej (THA) 3-6,7-6(4),6-4

[10] Jiri Vesely (CZE) bt [WC] Siddhant Banthia (IND) 6-2, 6-3  

[11] Kris Van Wyk (RSA) bt [WC] Nitin Kumar Sinha (IND) 7-5, 7-5 

[12] Matthew Dellavedova (AUS) bt [WC] Arnav Vijay Paparkar (IND) 6-2, 6-3