Rajeev Ram, a lucky loser from qualifying, made the most of his second chance by winning the ATP Hall of Fame Championship on Sunday, rallying to beat third seed Sam Querrey 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-3 for his first ATP title.
The 25-year old Ram, a lucky loser after top-seeded Mardy Fish withdrew on Monday to replace Andy Roddick on the US Davis Cup team, won the first all-US final on Newport’s grass courts in seven years.
It was the first ATP final for Ram, the 181st ranked player entering the week, and the lowest ranked to win an event this year.
PHOTO: AP
“These days don’t come around very often unless you’re [Roger] Federer or [Rafael] Nadal. There’s definitely pressure,” Ram said. “I tried to play tennis instead of thinking about what the moment was.”
“Winning tournaments is not normal on the tour for 99 percent of us,” he said.
After losing the first set in a tiebreaker, Ram decided to change his approach against the hard-serving Querrey late in the second set. With Querrey struggling on his first serves, Ram attacked the net against the second.
At 30-40 in the 12th game of the second set, Ram broke and sent the match to third set with a lunging backhand from close.
In the final set, Ram broke in the eighth game, winning with a well-placed forehand cross to go up 5-3. He raised both arms into the air after Querrey hit a forehand long on the match’s final point.
■HOME GIRL WINS TITLE
AFP, BUDAPEST
Hungary’s Agnes Szavay brought joy for the home fans as she claimed victory at the Budapest WTA event on Sunday, beating Switzerland’s top seed Patty Schnyder 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, in a final that lasted almost two hours.
Still, it was Schnyder who carried the first set on Sunday, taking the lead while fourth-seeded 21-year-old Szavay struggled with her serve. The Hungarian then fought back in the second set, winning it 6-4 and giving hope again to the home crowd.
Leading 5-1 in the third set, Szavay missed two match points before claiming the victory.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but