Purav Raja-Ramkumar Ramanathan Win Pune Challenger Doubles Title

Indian pair of Purav Raja and Ramkumar Ramanathan continued their fine form from the Kobe Challenger 2019, to win their second consecutive doubles title at the KPIT MSLTA Challenger event. The fourth-seeded Indian pair got better of fellow Indian pair of Arjun Kadhe and Saketh Myneni in straight sets to take their second title in November. Earlier, Australia’s James Duckworth was crowned champion in the men’s singles event.

In the all Indian men’s double final Purav Raja and Ramkumar Ramanathan, ranked 4th and 6th by All India Tennis Association in doubles rankings respectively, looked confident after their Challenger win in Kobe, Japan. Ramkumar- Raja had not dropped even a single set on the road to the final. The pair who was up against Arjun Kadhe and Saketh Myneni, seeded 8th and 9th by AITA, scored a 7-6 (3), 6-3 win to clinch the doubles title.

Even though the victory came in straight sets for Ramkumar- Raja but it was a hard-earned victory. The pair got a tough fight from compatriots Arjun and Saketh. Both the teams kicked off well, but Ramkumar-Raja took the lead when they broke Kadhe’s serve in the seventh game. However, Myneni-Kadhe crawled back into instantaneously to force a tie-breaker. Later on, Ramkumar seemed to lose his calm as he served a double fault and shanked a backhand to see 40-15 advantage vanish. However, an ace at deuce saw the top seeds through.

The victory for Ramkumar- Raja helped them pocket US $3100 along with 80 ranking points. On the other hand, the pair of Arjun and Saketh took home US $1800 and 48 ranking points.

Previously, in the men’s singles event, second seeded Duckworth won 4-6 6-4 6-4 over his fifth seeded rival. It was not an easy win for the Australian as the match lasted 2 hours and 18 minutes. James Duckworth had defeated Ramkumar in the semi-finals to end the India’s single campaign at the event.

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