Top 3 upsets by Indian tennis players in 2018
In the season that just finished recently, Indian tennis has been on the upswing in terms of rankings. Last year had couple of the biggest upsets in Indian tennis history, with Yuki Bhambri and Ramkumar Ramanathan beating Monfils and Thiem.
But, the average rankings of the country has gone up this year, especially in the last 8 months. Yuki achieved a ranking of 83 in early April and in the same month Prajnesh Gunneswaran propelled himself into the top 175.
Ramkumar too achieved a career high ranking of 111 late this July while Saketh Myneni has gone up to around 200 from being placed 620th last year. Arjun Kadhe is now placed about 168, a monumental climb of nearly 450 points from January.
All of India's top players have improved their performances this year. Even though the best match results came last year, this time around they have been better in terms of consistency.
Today we see the best upsets of 2018 by Indian tennis players:
3. Yuki Bhambri v Taylor Fritz, Queen's Club Championship
Yuki Bhambri has had a mixed year as he reached his career-high ranking in the middle and dropped by about 40 places nearing the end, partly due to a knee injury. But still, he improved his year-end ranking and, along the way, he pulled off a few great victories.
During the Queen's Club Championships in London, Yuki faced current Top-50 player Taylor Fritz in the qualifiers. The American was ranked in the 60s at that time.
The Indian was compact in the first set, breaking in the first game. He was broken back but broke again to take the first set 6-4. In the second, he turned it on and raced to a 5-0 lead, eventually winning it 6-2 to qualify.
The Delhiite won 51% of his return points with a conversion rate of 76% off Fritz's 2nd serves. Although serve hasn't been his strong suit, Yuki Bhambri has always found a way to work around it.