Ramanathan finishes runner-up at Eckental Challenger

Berlin, Nov 8 (IANS) India's Ramkumar Ramanathan on Sunday finished runner-up at Eckental Challenger after losing 6-4, 6-4 to American seventh seed Sebastian Korda in the final.It was Korda's first professional singles title at any level and it fetched him 100 ATP points. Ramanathan, meanwhile, picks up 60 points.Ramanathan, celebrating his 26th birthday on the day, had six aces and nine double faults in the match that lasted an hour and 23 minutes. Korda, 20, won nine points more than the 206th ranked Indian and and converted three of five breakpoints to make it a straight forward affair.The result remains Ramanathan's best of the season, although he missed out a chance of winning a maiden title on the tour. He reached the final after beating Germany's Marvin Moller 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 on Saturday. Ramanathan's previous best finish this season was when he reached the quarter-finals of the Bangkok Challenger II.
--IANS rkm/vd