India's Ramkumar Ramanathan registered the biggest win of his career with a 6-3, 6-2 second round upset of top seed and World No. 8 Dominic Thiem at the Antalya Open on Tuesday.
Ramkumar Ramanathan, ranked 222 in the world, reached only his second ATP quarterfinal with the victory over the Austrian. Ramkumar's previous best performance was a quarterfinal appearance at the 2016 edition of Chennai Open.
The 22-year-old was dominant in the first set and sailed to a 6-3 win. He wasted three break points in the second set before breaking the world no. 8 in the fifth game.
World No.222 beats world No.8! đŸ˜²
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 27, 2017
Ramkumar Ramanathan shocks Dominic Thiem in Antalya... pic.twitter.com/RDxPOOouPg
"I worked really hard for this," he said after the match, "Thank you to the crowd for coming out and cheering. I like the grass. Courts are fast. I took my chances and it worked out. I’m having a great time here and thanks to all the organisers."
Congratulatory tweets poured in from all over to appreciate the effort of Chennai lad.
See some reaction here:
Tremoundous win by Ramkumar Ramanathan over a top10 player. Congrats @ramkumar1994 #AntalyaOpen #Turkey #RamanathanvsThiem
— Rohan Bopanna (@rohanbopanna) June 27, 2017
Dominic Thiem just dropped the opening set 3-6 to Ramkumar Ramanathan. Feeling so conflicted as both my worlds clash. #AntalyaOpen
— Nikhila (@kokudum) June 27, 2017
Huge day for Indian tennis.. #ramkumarramanathan beats a top 10 player in a singles match.. What an effort. Take a bow sir #thiem
— Abhishek (@banerjee06) June 27, 2017
Ramanathan had entered the tournament through the qualifiers. The Indian had earlier defeated the 72-ranked Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva in the first round.