Rajeev Ram shocks Ryan Sweeting to reach semis – Tallahassee Tennis Challenger 2012
In an all-American clash, Rajeev Ram stunned his second seeded compatriot, Ryan Sweeting, in a three set thriller at the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger 2012 on Thursday. He joggled up a 6-7(3), 6-1, 6-4 score line against the 24-year-old to secure a place
in the semi-finals at this hard court event which is part of ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger tour 2012.
Ram made a strong start but lost the opening set at the Forestmeadows Tennis Complex. However, he made an epic comeback and ultimately sealed the deal in two hours and six minutes. The lower ranked American repeated his 2010 victory at this event against
Sweeting and after bagging this match, he powered into the last four.
The Bahamas native made a shaky start at these Floridian hard courts and after suffering the first blow in the third game, he fell at 1-3. However, he found the right track after that and snatched his break back in the 10th game to equaliser the
set scores. The set eventually went to the tie-breaker where Ram outsmarted his fellow citizen and clinched the opener with a 7-6(3) score line.
Ranked 137th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Ram made a stunning reply in the second set. After Sweeting held his opening serve in the second game, the 28-year-old unleashed barrage of groundstrokes to reel off the following
five games in a row. Ram brushed off the lone breakpoint he faced and capitalised on two out of six break opportunities to his advantage.
Ram kept momentum floating into the final set and earned the critical break in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. Regardless of losing his edge in the proceeding set, he cashed in another break chance in the ninth game and pulled out the decider by winning
six games to four.
Ram will next face another compatriot, Tim Smyczek, who also dumped a seeded player, Igor Kunitsyn, to set-up this meeting. The world number 282 lost his serve three times but capitalised on six out of 10 break opportunities to manipulate a 6-7(6), 6-3,
6-2 score line.
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