Chennai Open: Home hope Ramkumar rides on crowd support to enter last 8

CHENNAI: Alexander Kudryavtsev probably didn't say his prayers well or enough. Up against a marauding Ramkumar Ramanathan and a raucous crowd, the Russian succumbed 6-3, 4-6, 4-6 in the second round of the Chennai Open here on Thursday. Benoit Paire got the better of Lukas Rosol 7-5, 7-5 in another contest.
Ramkumar will next play Britain's No. 2 player Aljaz Bedene in the quarterfinals while Paire will face Thomas Fabbiano.Ranked 84 places above the Tamil Nadu boy, Kudryavtsev got off to a promising start, breaking the Indian twice to take the first set before Ramkumar, egged on by an unabashedly partisan congregation, crawled his way back into the contest. The 21-year-old's victory march was largely made up of forcing break throughs just when it mattered.
The cheers were growing louder and increasingly vociferous, leaving the 30 year-old lucky loser, who found a place in the main draw following second seed Kevin Anderson's pull-out, visibly perturbed. Serving at 5-4, the No. 248-ranked Indian paused, bent to touch the baseline, offering a word of prayer with Kudryavtsev mimicking his gesture. Ramkumar's prayers were answered as the Russian slapped a double-handed backhand into the net and the match slipped into the deciding set.
"In the first set, I was missing too many balls but in the second I tried to control my emotions and go for every point. After winning the second, I felt a lot better and knew I could beat him. I went for my second serve after that and with crowd behind me I could do it," Ramkumar reflected after the match.
Earlier, having lost the first set, Lukas Rosol notched up a crucial break in the eighth game of the second with Benoit Paire's backhand landing wide to go even. Fighting tooth and nail to hold serve thereafter, Paire flung a crosscourt winner before dispatching a down the line backhand which grazed the top of the net and then landed on the line, much to the chagrin of the Czech. Though Rosol guarded his serve to go 5-6, it was not enough. The Frenchman, thereafter, held serve to love, taking the game and the match with a blistering ace.
GRANOLLERS PULLS OUT, LEANDER'S DOUBLES CAMPAIGN ENDS
Leander Paes' Spanish partner Marcel Granollers pulled out of the tournament citing illness ahead of their second round encounter against Austin Krajicek and Benoit Paire. This effectively ended Paes' campaign and handed the French-American combine a walkover into the next round. "It's disappointing not to be able to play in front of my home fans. I feel for Marcel and wish him a speedy recovery ahead of the Australian Open," Paes said.