On Sunday India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan has the chance of writing himself into the history books.
The 23-year-old is set to play in his first ever ATP Final at the Hall Of Fame Championships in Newport. Unseeded in the tournament, he scored wins over Victor Estrella Burgos, Denis Kudla and Vasek Pospisil earlier in the week. Then on Saturday he battled to a 6-4, 7-5, win over Tim Smyczek. Hitting seven aces and saving eight out of the ten break points he faced in the process.
“I was serving well and I just hung in there,” Ramanathan told atpworldtour.com following his semi-final win. “I didn’t have the greatest first set on return, but I found a groove. He’s a really tricky opponent, especially on these courts. I’m pretty happy to get through.”
Ramanathan is now a win away from becoming the first Indian player to win a title on the ATP Tour for 20 years. The last player to do so from the country was doubles specialist Leander Paes. Coincidentally Paes’ only ATP title in singles competition occurred at Newport back in 1998 when he defeated South Africa’s Neville Godwin in the final.
Standing in Ramanathan’s way is world No.48 Steve Johnson. Prior to this week, Johnson had only won one tour match on the grass this season. Nevertheless, the American has breezed into the final. Dropping just 15 games so far in the tournament. He is also yet to be broken.
“It feels good,” Johnson said to ATP’s official website. “You come here to Newport, you come to an event, you expect to at least give yourself a chance at being here at the end of the week. Now we’re here, and I’m just going to keep putting my best foot forward.”
Johnson already has three ATP trophies to his name, including one from this year’s US Men’s Clay Court Championships. Sunday will be the first time he has played Ramanathan on the tour.
The Newport final will take place at 16:00 local time on Sunday.
Quick facts about Ramanathan
-Current ranking – 161
-Ranking high – 115 (23/4/18)
-Titles – 16 Futures, 0 Challenger and 0 ATP
-He is yet to play in the main draw of a grand slam
