Qualifier Ramkumar Ramanathan whacked top-seed Dominic Thiem 6-3 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals of the 2017 Antalya Open.
The 22-year-old Indian, who is ranked 222 in the world, broke the Austrian three times and won the last five games of the match to pull-off one of the biggest upsets ahead of this year’s Wimbledon.
“I just gave it my best and was serving well out there,” said Ramanathan, who reached a quarter-final of an ATP event just for the second time in his career.
“It’s a good start for my career, but it’s just a start,” added the Indian. “Hopefully I can keep it going.”
Thiem, who is starting to show improvements on clay courts after two semi-final finishes in the last two French Opens, is yet to grasp the intricacies of grass tourneys and is currently 1-2 in such competitions this year.
Ramanathan will face Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in the next round of the ATP 250 event, which also has a prize pool of $439,005.
Already in the quarter-finals is third-seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain, who will face French Adrian Mannarino.
Second seed Paolo Lorenzi will collide with Moldova’s Radu Albot for a spot in the last eight, while fourth-seed and Spanish David Ferrer will clash with Japan’s Yuichi Sugita.
Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic will also face Italian Andreas Seppi to see who will reach the next round.
