October / November 2018 Challengers

[PKBasu]

Ramkumar should have played the qualifiers of one of the ATP tournaments in Europe this week (Stockholm, Moscow or Antwerp). There are 3 LL spots in Antwerp. He would have been a high seed in the qualifiers in all the 3 places, all ATP250 tournaments. Next week has 2 ATP500 tournaments — but this week was a unique opportunity.

[sameerph]

After winning the first set 6-3, Prajnesh has lost the second set 2-6.

The Chinese is playing very consistent tennis, 86% first serves in and hardly making any unforced errors. Prajnesh will have to pull out his best game in the third set.

[sameerph]

Prajnesh got a break in the third set and was serving for the match at 5-4, got down 15-40, got it back to deuce but lost the next 2 points to get broken for 5-5.

Li held at 15 for 6-5 and now Prajnesh has to serve to stay in the match.

Prajnesh holds at love for 6-6. Why did he not do that in the earlier service game ?

And Prajnesh plays a perfect tie break to win it at love.

At $150K Ningbo Challenger 2018, China

[R2] (7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,170) d. Zhe Li (CHN,253) 63 26 76(0)

Not the best of the matches for Prajnesh but he pulls thru in the end. He will play the winner of the Korean Yunseong Chung ( who upset RamK in first round) and Japanese Watanuki in the QF.

[jayakris]

Good job, Prajnesh!

[PKBasu]

Good win in the end over a local player — and Prajnesh has at least lived up to his seeding. Well done! He plays an unseeded player next.

Balaji/Saketh have won the first set over Statham/Moriya 6-0, and are up on serve 3-2 in the second.

[PKBasu]

Saketh/Balaji swept to a 60 63 shellacking of a good pair, Statham/Moriya.

Now, Sumit/RamK are up 64 30 in their match, while Arjun/Prajnesh are up 30 in the first set of theirs. Something about ducks and water — Indians and doubles.

[sameerph]

Arjun and Prajnesh upset the third seeds while Sumit and RamK lost in a close match.

These are full doubles results -

At $150K Ningbo Challenger 2018, China

[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) d. Hiroki Moriya (JPN)/ Rubin Statham (NZL) 60 63
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,169)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) d. (3) Enrique Lopez Perez (ESP)/ Goncalo Oliveira (POR) 61 36 10-7
[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP)/ Federico Gaio (ITA) 64 57 9-11

Next,

[QF] (7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,170) vs Yunseong Chung (KOR,291)

[QF] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,169)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND)

[PKBasu]

There is a "Chinese" player called "Te Rigele" in the singles draw at Ningbo. This is clearly not a Chinese name, so I dug around and sure enough the guy is a 21 year old from Hohhot (Inner Mongolia). His actual name is Tergel, and he is Mongol (i.e., a Buddhist from the land that once ruled most of Eurasia). Of course Mongols are now reduced to a small minority in Inner Mongolia (where Han Chinese outnumber them 5:1). Sadly Tergel lost today to Ito Tatsuma in the QF.

[PKBasu]

Prajnesh/Arjun narrowly beat Saketh/Balaji in the doubles QF 63 26 (10-7)

[Rajiv]

Looks like Yuki is not coming to China after all , he has withdrawn from the Liuzhou Challenger and it would be unlikely he would show up at Shenzen a week later.

[Sin Hombre]

Feels like the end of Yuki's singles career. He'll fall below the top 200 again with no PR and not sure if he has the will to grind back up again.

[sameerph]

Dominant performance by Prajnesh today to easily beat the Korean in a little more than an hour.

At $150K Ningbo Challenger 2018, China

[QF] (7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,170) d. Yunseong Chung (KOR,291) 62 61

Good to see Prajnesh taking advantage of draw opening up a bit due to RamK's loss in first round to this Korean.

He is up next against 19 year talented Serbian.

[SF] (7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,170) vs. (5) Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB,161)

[PKBasu]

Looks like Yuki is not coming to China after all , he has withdrawn from the Liuzhou Challenger and it would be unlikely he would show up at Shenzen a week later.

Since he’s in Europe, won’t it make more sense for him to try qualifying in at Vienna or Basel for next week? If he doesn’t turn up at either place, then we need to start worrying...

[PKBasu]

Terrific win for Prajnesh, who is 154 in the live rankings, just two slots below his career high earlier this year.

[sameerph]

Looks like Yuki is not coming to China after all , he has withdrawn from the Liuzhou Challenger and it would be unlikely he would show up at Shenzen a week later.

Since he’s in Europe, won’t it make more sense for him to try qualifying in at Vienna or Basel for next week? If he doesn’t turn up at either place, then we need to start worrying...

He won't be able to play either of those tournaments in Europe as he had already committed to Liuzhou Challenger and withdrew late.

He is clearly not 100% and played the Antewerp tournament probably for monetary purposes and test his fitness level. Hope he is at least fully fit for India challengers.