It took more than 12 seasons on the professional circuit and 31 years of his life, but Rajeev Ram finally has a clay-court win at the ATP main-draw level. Ram earned it when he beat Horacio Zeballos 6-4, 7-6(6) in round one of the Ecuador Open on Tuesday afternoon.
The 31-year-old American held his booming serve 11 times in 11 tries while fighting off two break points, both of which came in his very first service game. Zeballos got no more looks the entire rest of the way. Ram missed match points at 6-4 and 6-5 in the tiebreaker, including one on his own serve. But the world No. 81 seized a mini-break at 6-6 and closed things out on serve one point later.
Interestingly, Ram’s breakthrough match on clay came at the expense of one of just four men to ever beat Rafael Nadal in a final on this surface. Zeballos stunned Nadal in the 2013 Vina del Mar title match (the other three players to do so are currently the top three in the world: Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, and Roger Federer).
Ram’s last clay-court match at any level had previously come in 2012 Belgrade qualifying.
The indoor hard-court swing, meanwhile, is also ongoing. One of the two events this week is taking place in Montpellier, where Marin Cilic will kick off his Open Sud de France campaign on Wednesday. The second-seeded Croat is off to a lackluster start to 2016, having lost in the Brisbane quarterfinals to Dominic Thiem and in the Australian Open third round to Roberto Bautista Agut.
Up first for Cilic is a second career meeting with Zverev. Their only previous meeting came at the 18-year-old German’s breakout tournament last summer in Washington, D.C., where Cilic ended the underdog’s run with a 7-5, 7-6(3) quarterfinal victory. Zverev concluded 2015 as the ATP Star of Tomorrow (youngest player in the top 100). The world No. 83 got a bad draw in Melbourne (lost to Andy Murray in the first round) but survived a match point to overcome Luca Vanni 6-7(3), 6-4, 7-5 on Monday.
Gael Monfils will be back on the court for the first time since the Australian Open quarterfinals when he contests an all-French affair against Edouard Roger-Vasselin. The world No. 17 capitalized on Nadal’s early exit from the season’s first Grand Slam and made it to the last eight before succumbing to Milos Raonic in four sets. Monfils is 15-3 lifetime in Montpellier with two titles and one runner-up finish.
RESULTS – TUESDAY, 2 FEBRUARY 2016
Singles – First Round
R. Bemelmans (BEL) d [6] J. Sousa (POR) 64 36 64
M. Berrer (GER) d [7] B. Coric (CRO) 76(5) 62
E. Gulbis (LAT) d [WC] Q. Halys (FRA) 64 63
[Q] D. Brown (GER) d S. Darcis (BEL) 75 75
J. Struff (GER) d N. Mahut (FRA) 63 75
J. Millman (AUS) d [WC] J. Benneteau (FRA) 63 60
P. Mathieu (FRA) d [Q] E. Ymer (SWE) 61 64
[Q] K. De Schepper (FRA) d N. Basilashvili (GEO) 46 76(4) 63
Doubles – First Round
[4] J. Erlich (ISR) / C. Fleming (GBR) d M. Cilic (CRO) / N. Mektic (CRO) 61 63
[WC] A. Zverev (GER) / M. Zverev (GER) d K. Skupski (GBR) / N. Skupski (GBR) 64 76(6)
SCHEDULE – WEDNESDAY, 3 FEBRUARY 2016
CENTRE COURT start 12:00 noon
M. Berrer (GER) vs [Q] K. De Schepper (FRA)
Not Before 2:00 pm
T. Daniel (JPN) vs [8] [WC] M. Baghdatis (CYP)
Not Before 4:00 pm
[5] G. Monfils (FRA) vs [Q] E. Roger-Vasselin (FRA)
Not Before 7:00 pm
[1] R. Gasquet (FRA) vs E. Gulbis (LAT)
A. Zverev (GER) vs [2] M. Cilic (CRO)
COURT 1 start 12:00 noon
J. Brunstrom (SWE) / R. Roelofse (RSA) vs M. Kowalczyk (POL) / A. Siljestrom (SWE)
A. Arnaboldi (ITA) / M. Lopez (ESP) vs M. Daniell (NZL) / A. Sitak (NZL)
D. Brown (GER) / R. Junaid (AUS) vs [2] M. Pavic (CRO) / M. Venus (NZL)
[1] L. Kubot (POL) / M. Matkowski (POL) vs [WC] P. Mathieu (FRA) / V. Millot (FRA)
[PR] T. Bednarek (POL) / D. Istomin (UZB) vs [PR] M. Bhupathi (IND) / J. Marray
Topics: 10sballs.com, Atp, Dominic Thiem, Ecuador Open, Gael Monfils, Horacio Zeballos, Marin Cilic, Montpellier, Rafa Nadal, Rajeev Ram, Ricky Dimon, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News