Spaniard Pedro Martinez takes on home favorite Ramkumar Ramanathan in the round of 32 of the Tata Maharashtra Open on Tuesday.
The 25-year-old had a memorable season in 2022. Martinez won his first ATP singles tour-level title by defeating Argentina’s Sebastian Baez in the finals of the Chile Open in Santiago. This win facilitated Martinez’s debut in the top 50 of the ATP rankings.
Martinez produced another fine result at the Miami Open as he reached the third round of a Masters 1000 tournament for the first time. He went on to better his rankings, debuting in the top 40 after the Madrid Open. Toward the latter part of the year, Martinez’s best result came at the Japan Open as he reached the quarterfinals of the tournament.
The 28-year-old ended 2022 with a loss in the first round of the Challenger event in Yokkaichi. The No. 1 Indian player also won his first ATP Tour title in 2022 and this came in the doubles event in Adelaide. Ramanathan teamed with compatriot Rohan Bopanna to defeat the team of Luke Saville and Jon-Patrick Smith in the final. Ramanathan and Bopanna also won the doubles event at last year’s Maharashtra Open.
In the singles circuit, Ramanathan didn’t have too many results to write home about. He managed to defeat Otto Virtanen and Mattia Bellucci in the qualifiers to progress to the main draw in Maharashtra. Against Virtanen, he bounced back after losing the first set while against Bellucci, Ramanathan put on a rather convincing performance en route to a win in straight sets.
The head-to-head scoreline currently stands at 0-0 as Pedro Martinez and Ramkumar Ramanathan have never faced each other.
Prediction: Pedro Martinez to win in three sets.
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