Sandeep Ramachandran goes down fighting in quarter-finals of South Australian Open
Rising Indian talent Sandeep Ramachandran’s run came to an end at the PSA $5,000 South Australian Open in Adelaide as he went down fighting in the quarter-finals on Thursday. The 19-year-old fought brilliantly but ended up losing the marathon five-game thriller 11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 10-12, 11-6 to the seventh seed Mike Corren of Australia.
After conceding the first couple of games, the Dubai-based teenager did not lose heart. Instead, he rebounded admirably well by taking the next two games.
In the end though, his valiant effort came up short as the veteran Australian racked up the last few points to take the win.
The match lasted 70 minutes.
Ranked 173rd, the 42-year-old Corren is 100 ranking places above Ramachandran and has way more experience than him. But the Indian, despite being a qualifier at this tournament, did not let that bother him. It certainly shows Sandeep’s maturity and much-improved match temperament.
The World No. 273 has been on a roll lately and reached the quarter-finals and the semi-finals of his last two PSA tournaments. At the Tasmanian Open last week, he caused a huge upset by beating the second seed Rhys Dowling in the last-eight stage.