Ramanathan wins maiden singles ATP Challenger title in Bahrain

Ramkumar Ramanathan with the winner’s trophy in Manama

Indian tennis player Ramkumar Ramanathan won his maiden Challenger level singles title on Sunday, 12 years after turning a Pro, when he outplayed Evgeny Karlovskiy in the summit clash of the ATP80 Manama event.

Ramanathan, 27, who had lost six Challenger finals in his career before, beat his Russian rival 6-1, 6-4 in 68 minutes. Ramanathan, seeded sixth and ranked 222 in the world, sealed the first set when the Russian's backhand return sailed over the baseline. This was after Ramanathan saved a breakpoint against Karlovskiy, ranked 302 in the world.

The 80 ranking points earned will push him back into top-200 and also make him the highest-ranked Indian on the ATP singles chart. He is likely to be ranked 186 and will surpass Prajnesh Gunneswaran (215) and Sumit Nagal (219).

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