Ramkumar Ramanathan jumps to career-best 184 rank after Antalya Open success

New Delhi: Young Indian tennis player Ramkumar Ramanathan on Monday achieved his career-best rank of 184 after jumping up 38 places in the ATP singles ranking chart following his inspiring show at the Antalya Open, where he humbled world number eighth Dominic Thiem. Ramkumar, 22, had qualified for the ATP 250 event and progressed to quarter-finals, where he lost to veteran Marcos Baghdatis. [caption id=“attachment_3773319” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Ramkumar Ramanathan. Image courtesy: Emilio Sanchez Vicario via Twitter[/caption] The Chennai lad earned 57 points for his effort and as a result leapfrogged 38 places in the ladder to be the highest-ranked Indian in the singles now. He is followed by Yuki Bhambri (222), Prajnesh Gunneswaran (259), N Sriram Balaji (291) and Sumit Nagal (342), who jumped 27 places. In the doubles, Rohan Bopanna was highest-ranked Indian at number 21, followed by Purav Raja (57), Divij Sharan (57), Leander Paes (62) and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (90). In the WTA rankings, Sania Mirza remained at number seven in the doubles and Ankita Raina was highest-ranked singles player at number 274. Karman Kaur Thandi was next best at 413. Ramanathan, ranked 222nd before the match against Thiem, pulled off a straight set upset over Austrian in the pre-quarterfinals of the Antalya Open in Turkey. The strapping Indian qualified for the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-2 verdict, shocking the tennis world and sending social media into a tizzy. Ramkumar hit 10 aces and converted three break points, while Thiem only had one chance to break the Indian, which he failed to convert. With inputs from IANS