Ramkumar lifts his second title of the season

RAMKUMAR RAMANATHAN defeated seventh seed Bowen Ouyang of China 6-4, 6-2 to pick the winner's trophy at the LMW-sponsored ITF Futures tournament in Coimbatore on Saturday.

It was his second title of the season. The 21-year-old was not interested in rallies, and had Ouyang grounded with his rampaging rallies from the baseline.

 “I did not want to keep rallying for long. I had to be aggressive to keep him down,”

said Ramkumar.

“I felt it was like another normal match for me. But I need to congratulate him for his efforts as well,”

he added.

He thanked his parents and Rajeev, one of his coaches in Chennai, for coming to Coimbatore to encourage him.

While Ouyang was disappointed, having missed the opportunity to win his maiden title.

He played to a strategy. Last night, I was very excited having entered the final. I planned to rally but he was going for the big shots. Actually, he made things very uncomfortable for me.

LMW’s finance director R. Rajendran gave away the prizes.