Day 5 Recap

9-10 AM - AATP announces date for November event

Following the smashing success of this weekend's AATP Masters, AATP organizers have announced the dates for the next tournament in November, which is likely to be the last of this calendar year. The tournament will run mainly from Friday 19th November to Sunday 21st November with a likely mid-week Wednesday start like we had this week. The schedule was finalized after consulatations with top players including Rizwan Sumar, who is going to be in Mumbai during that time, and sister concern ATP, who wanted to ensure that the tennis spotlight is solely on its World Tour Championships which kicks off in London on 21st November. More on the format and a special addition to the tournament itinerary in the days ahead.

9-45 AM - Haresh heads back to the practice courts after battling chocolate demons

12 hours after being knocked out of the AATP Masters at the semi-final stage, Haresh Ramchandani will head back to the practice courts at MSLTA with Nimesh as he tries to put the disappointing loss behind him and start preparations for the gruelling mid-November season which will see him play in the AITA qualifying event in Pune and the next AATP Masters back-to-back. This was the first time that Haresh failed to advance to the final of a tournament on the AATP Tour.
In related news, our reporters stationed themselves outside the Ramchandani residence at Divyang Building in Colaba in an attempt to get some bytes from the top seed follwoing his loss. While there was no word or sight of Haresh, our reporters soon noticed a five-foot high pile of chocolate wrappers gathering outside Divyang building, blocking the entrance to Florence Beauty Parlour, which is situated at the ground floor of Divyang. Our reporters observed an empty chocolate wrapper flying out of the Ramchandani residence windows every 2-3 minutes all night long. Haresh has been treated for chocolate addicition in the past and there are fears his latest loss could make him fall off the wagon again. Recovered from the choco-rubble were wrappers of Snickers, Three Musketeers, Ferrerro Rochers and Toblerone amongst others

1-20 PM - Rankings Update

With his semi-final win over Bharat, Philips Eapen will move to No.2 in the next AATP rankings while after reaching his first final, Rizwan Sumar will move to No. 4 - both career highs for them; irrespective of the finals result. With his loss in the semis, Bharat will drop to No.3 in the rankings for the first time which means that there is a possibility that the Ramchandani brothers could be placed in the same group in the next tournament. Haresh is assured of holding on to the top ranking till until the next tournament. Final rankings will be issued on Monday.

10 PM - Rizwan completes quest for glory

Rizwan Sumar completed a lifelong dream on Sunday evening as he captured his first ever tennis title, with a 6-4, 7-6 win over the No, 3 seed and former champion Philips Eapen. The final was delayed by 15 minutes due to a light drizzle and both players started evenly. Rizwan won a pivotal seventh game in the first set that went to 11 deuces on his way to a 6-4, 2-0 lead. Philips, who was cheered on by his wife Aparna, bounced back in the second and also served for the set at 5-3 but was unable to close Rizwan out. Rizwan won another pivotal game at 5-5 in the second that went to 12 deuces and finally won the tiebreaker 7-4
Rizwan has been among the most enthusiastic and visible supporters of the AATP Tour; always present to cheer on finals day even when he didn't qualify and always consults with AATP officials with regards to his travel plans to ensure participation on tour. Rizwan is the fourth player to win a title on tour and will move to No. 4 in the new rankings to be released tomorrow. The top 3 players on tour, Haresh, Bharat and Philips are the other players to have won titles on the AATP tour. Rizwan's win also marks the fourth different winner on tour in the last four events, setting up an exiciting tournament in mid-November where all top players are expected to participate.
Stay tuned to the ticker in the coming days for ranking updates, post-mortem analysis and interesting tidbits that you might have missed