Ram advances at Indianapolis Tennis Chamionships

Former Carmel High School tennis standout Rajeev Ram is right at home this week. Literally. Ram, ranked 210th in the world, had his biggest win during the Indianapolis Tennis Championships on Tuesday, a 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 victory over ATP tour veteran Fabrice Santoro. Santoro is ranked No. 60 and was seeded No. 6 overall of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships. The 6-foot-4 Ram, who played at Carmel and won a singles state title in 1999 as a sophomore, has played professional since 2004. During his time at Carmel, Ram also earned All-State honors. During his junior career, Ram won a total of nine national junior titles, including the National Claycourt 14-and-under singles title. He was also the boys 16-and-under National Champion. After a delayed enrollment at Illinois (so he could continue to play tennis), Ram would team with Brian Wilson to win the national doubles title and guide Illinois to an undefeated (32-0) record and NCAA team championship. In 2002, he was runner-up in the Doubles Juniors event at Wimbledon alongside partner Brian Baker. Earlier this month, Ram won the Nielsen USTA Pro Tennis Championship for his first career challenger-level singles title. Ram will play against Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan on Thursday night in the second round of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships on the campus of IUPUI.