Rajeev Ram defeats Grega Zemlja in the second round qualies at the US Men’s Clay Court Championships
Rajeev Ram of America extended his winning streak to two matches after defeating Grega Zemlja of Slovenia in straight sets at the second round of qualifying draw at the River Oaks Country Club in Houston. Zemlja hadn’t anything
special to offer and consequentially he suffered a 4-6, 3-6 defeat. Ram with this win now moves on ahead to face Paul Capdeville of Chile in the next round of the tournament.
US Men’s Clay Court Championships is the 14th tournament of the ATP World tour 250 series. This was Ram’s second appearance at this prestigious event, given his prior performance on April 5, 2010 where he couldn’t move it into
the second round of qualifying draw losing to the ultimate defending champion Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina.
Ram made it through to the second round after defeating compatriot Jesse Levine in a matter of one hour and fifty seven minutes. Although Ram tumbled in the second set, he played hard to eliminate his opponent from the tournament
The match started on a very competitive note with both players exchanging heavy blows, as both the players fired in equal number of aces and committed the same number of double faults. Ram fired in 43 per cent of the first serves
and gained75 per cent of points on them. Whereas the higher ranked Zemlja fell behind with a meager 42 per cent win on 39 per cent first serves. As luck would have it, Ram converted 60 per cent of his break point opportunities and stole the first set with
a 6-4 score line.
The second set didn’t see any improvement on Zemlja’s side as he could not give his best and lagged behind with 50 per cent of points on his meager 46 per cent first serves. Ram had a powerful self defence as he hit two aces, 2
double faults and had a better conversion rate of 59 per cent. The American saved 80 per cent of his break point opportunities and grabbed the second set with 6-3 score in style.
Ram made his most notable performance at the 2009 Campbell’s hall of fame Tennis Championship, where he defeated Nick Lindahl, Ricardo Mello, Alejandro Falla, and Samuel Groth to move into the quarterfinals. In the finals he moved
past his compatriot Sam Querrey in a tough fight and tasted the glory of victory. His most recent performance came at the 2011 BNP Paribas Open, where he didn’t make it to the second round of qualifying draw losing to Rudolf Siwy of Czech Republic.
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