Ramkumar goes down fighting to Baghdatis

Ramkumar Ramanathan fought gallantly before losing a gruelling three-setter against veteran Marcos Baghdatis in the quarterfinal of the ATP 250 Antalya Open in Antalya on Thursday.

It was another great show from the Indian tennis player after his shock win over world No. 8 Dominic Thiem. He, though, eventually went down 7-6 (7-0), 3-6, 6-7 (6-8) in match that lasted two hour and 43 minutes.

It was the experience of Baghdatis, a former world No 8 and Australian Open finalist, which helped him prevail over the world No 222.

Till the final couple of points, the lanky Indian matched Baghdatis stroke for stroke, hitting as many as 10 aces compared to the Cyprot’s nine.

However, he had 11 double faults along with only 42 per cent successful first serve, which possibly was the only difference between the two players.

That was one aspect that troubled Ramkumar, who could only convert a single break point. Baghdatis successfully converted three break points.