Sweden’s Ymer surprises World No. 15 Karatsev at Tata Open Maharashtra, storms into neighborhoods
The Indian star pair broke the challenge for the Austrian Alexander Erler and the Czech Jiri Vesely in the Last 8 match with a nail-biting 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4) victory.
Bopanna and Ramkumar, who played their second ATP event together at the fourth edition of South Asia’s only ATP 250 tournament, hosted by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association, won the first set in tie-breaker.
After a hard-fought opening set, the other also saw an intense fight as both pairs looked aggressive in their approach and did not allow the opponents to stretch the lead as the score was locked to 5-5 before the set eventually went into tie-breaker.
The Chennai-born Ramkumar served big to stay ahead and then the experienced double player Bopanna hit a banging return to 5-4 before serving exactly and securing the match comfortably.
They will now face Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul in the semifinals. The French duo entered Last-4 with a hard-fought victory against Federico Gaio and Lorenzo Musetti 4-6, 6-3, 10-2.
Another Indian pair N Sriram Balaji and Vishnu Vardhan will also be seen in the semi-finals after their opponents, Gianluca Mager and Emil Ruusuvuori withdrew from the quarter-finals due to an injury to the former. The Indian duo, who went into the main draw as an alternative pair, defeated compatriots Arjun Kadhe and Purav Raja 6-1, 6-4 in the opening round which was played late on Wednesday night.
Earlier in the singles meeting in the 16-year-old final, Sweden’s Elias Ymer shocked the top seed and world number 15 Aslan Karatsev from Russia in straight sets to storm into the quarter-finals.
Ymer left Karatsev a shocking loss with 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) in the singles match in the second round which lasted for one hour and 36 minutes.
Meanwhile, Yuki Bhambri suffered a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Stefano Travaglia in the singles competition in the second round. The Indian gave everything to extend his return to Pune, but world number 93 the Italian retained control throughout the match and secured the victory and the place in Sista-8.
Later tonight, in another double quarter final, the country’s Saketh Myneni and Mukund Sasikumar will face a challenge from the Australian top couple Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith.
The 25-year-old Ymer, who got through the qualifiers, started the match well and took an early 3-1 lead against Karatsev, who had a hard time finding his rhythm, and played his first match in the tournament, which is owned by IMG and run by RISE Worldwide in India.
With 76% of the service points won, compared to Karatsev’s 47%, Ymer took the opening set comfortably against Karatsev, who made five double errors.
The star Russian, who beat Novak Djokovic at home to enter the Serbia Open final last year, tried to make a comeback but Ymer showed phenomenal reflexes and resisted well with some powerful shots to level the score to 4-4 in the second set. .
Ymer then held his serve and forced Karatsev, the first player in an Open Era to reach the Grand Slam semi-finals at his debut at the Australian Open 2021, to a tie-break.
“I was more focused on my serves. When you serve well, you always win matches. I think the serve was the key,” said Ymer after his match.
World No. 163 Ymer started strong in tie-breaker by driving to a 3-0 lead and then kept his nice touch to complete a sensational victory and sent Karatsev packing.
“He (Elias) played well. I did not start the match well and tried to find a solution in the second set to get back into the match,” said Karatsev.
Defending champion Vesely, who was bye at the opening round, began his campaign with a convincing 6-3, 6-4 win against Bernabe Zapata Miralles. Sixth-seeded Emil Ruusuvuori also had an easy outing against the qualifier Vit Kopriva, and secured a 6-3, 6-3 victory during a skewed round of 16.
Source: Media Release