Leander Paes cruise into next round at KPIT-MLSTA ATP Challenger

Leander Paes and Ramkumar Ramanathan made short work of their opening doubles fixture at the US $50000 KPIT-MLSTA ATP Challenger on Wednesday as they cruised past unseeded Anvit Bendre and Sidharth Rawat 6-3, 6-4 to go through to the next round.

Taking part in a Challenger in India after 19 years, all eyes were on Leander Paes as he walked into the center court with a young Ramkumar Ramanathan by his side. Seeded second, the duo didn’t disappoint the 200-odd crowd in the stands as they wrapped up the game in just 53 minutes.

Leander and Ramanathan were in complete control right from the very start and earned the break early on to lead 2-0. Ramanathan’s game was an improved version of what he displayed while crashing out of the singles draw earlier in the day. His returns were difficult for Bendre and Rawat to handle who desperately tried to hold on to their serve and hope for a miracle. Their efforts, though, could only manage the crowd to cheer for them for a while, before switching sides to back the fancier team on paper.

The first set ended in just 23 minutes with Leander-Ramanathan complimenting each other while playing the long balls across the court. “We played freely and didn’t put too much pressure on ourselves. I never had the pressure of pairing up with a player of his stature,” Ramanathan said after the game. His senior partner, heaped praise on him for his on-field brilliance. “It isn’t like he always follows what I ask him to. There were situations in this game where he asked me to follow a specific style and routine and I readily obliged.”

Ramanathan is the 110th player Leander has paired with but the latter said it wasn’t a difficult task. “We won the first set fairly comfortably with two breaks, and he came up to me and said ‘Let’s play eye-formation.’ I was completely taken aback but then I agreed. This is what I like about him. He’s always trying to learn, try new things on court and keeping a tab on his equipment. I can jump at the net whereas his returns are brilliant. That’s the combination that kept us going,” he said.

The second set was a far more equal contest between the two Indian pairs with Bendre and Rawat holding their serves and avoiding less slip-ups. Their efforts were far more than what the scoreline may suggest with even Leander lauding the duo’s fighting nature. The boys were very good players,” he said. “Obviously, they were indeed helped by our coach who advised them on how to play against us, but let’s not take away anything from them. They should get their due credit. Now it’s all about upgrading one level at a time.”

Both teams had fired two aces but Leander and Ramanathan converted three break points while their opponents failed to create such chances. “This is a fantastic court. It’s the first time that I’ve been playing here and what I saw was fantastic. It’s really fast. The bounce, speed, everything was perfect,” Leander said at the end of the match.