Rajeev Believes

In all that talk about Davis Cup over the past few days, especially yesterday, I just about forgot to cover one of the other biggish stories of the weekend - Rajeev Ram won the title in Newport after entering the draw as a lucky loser.

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Now doesn't that warm the cockles of your heart?

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I love stories like this (provided they don't come at the expense of my beloved Roger Federer, but he is, as we all know, out on baby watch for the moment, so we don't have to worry about him for a while!) I mean, sure the competition in these little tournaments like Newport isn't massive, but a victory over players ranked a good deal higher than you is a victory. Major kudos to Rajeev Ram.

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I think what I like most about these stories is not so much the rags-to-riches nature of them, but the fact that the little guy, the qualifier or the lucky loser or whoever, believes he can do it. It's like Marcos Baghdatis at the Aussie Open a few years back. It was belief that got him where he went. And I have a lot of credit for that - for believing that no matter how insurmountable the obstacle might seem, anything is possible.

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So well done, Rajeev Ram. Keep believing.

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Today's Results

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Mercedes Cup (Stuttgart)

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Victor Hanescu def. Dominik Meffert, 6-4 7-6 (8-6)

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Catella Swedish Open (Bastad)

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Andreas Vinciguerra def. Florent Serra, 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4

Victor Crivoi def. Denis Istomin, 6-0 6-4

Teimuraz Gabashvili def. Christophe Rochus, 4-6 6-1 6-0

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ECM Prague Open (Prague)

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Francesca Schiavone def. Shahar Peer, 7-5 6-3

Sybille Bammer def. Tsvetana Pironkova, 2-6 7-6 (7-2) 7-5

Carla Suarez Navarro def. Alexandra Dulgheru, 4-6 6-3 6-3

Barbora Zahlavova Strycova def. Kristina Kucova, 7-5 6-4

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Internazionali Femminili di Tennis di Palermo (Palermo)

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Alberta Brianti def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-3 4-0 retired

Aravane Rezai def. Galina Voskoboeva, 6-2 6-4

Roberta Vinci def. Lourdes Dominguez Lino, 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-3)

Olga Govortsova def. Maria Elena Camerin, 6-3 6-3

Varvara Lepchenko def. Corinna Dentoni, 6-3 6-3