$54K(+H) Bangkok 1,2 challenger,Thailand,February 2019

[PKBasu]

Prajnesh is top seed (with his ranking of 97), and so earns 3 ATP points and $520 for simply turning up this week.

Former world #12 Viktor Troicki is now ranked 221 and seeded 12th here, Yuichi Sugita (who was ranked #36 in October 2017 after his great run on grass that year) is seeded 4th (for his current ranking of 163) and former world #29 Dudi Sela (now ranked 223) is seeded 13th. (Sela made the final last week, losing to Laaksonen in the final, so both will move up in this week's rankings).
Among other former top-100 players in the draw are Tatsuma Ito (132 next week, CH 60), Nedovyesov (188 now, CH 72), Tobias Kamke (205 now, CH 64), Go Soeda (194 now, CH 47), James Duckworth (210 now, CH 82), and Henri Laaksonen (121 in the live rankings, CH 93).
Lots of good players lurking in the draw.

But Prajnesh plays either ITF player Yevyesev or a qualifier in R2, and then plays Kwon Soonwoo in R3 (last 16). Mukund is drawn to play 8th seed Ze Zhang (CHN, 208) in R2, and Saketh to play Duckworth in R2.

[PKBasu]

Saketh through to R2 with a 63 75 victory over Yang Tsung-hua (TWN, 287).

[sameerph]

Yes, decent win for Saketh. But, that counts only for 3 points in new larger ATP draws. He needs to win at least a couple more matches to make it count.

Prajnesh is top seed (with his ranking of 97), and so earns 3 ATP points and $520 for simply turning up this week.

No, he will get the money but will not earn 3 ATP points if he loses in second round. He did not get any points for last week. It does see the seeds getting byes in first round and losing in second round, do not get second round losers points

[jaydeep]

In the second round, Saki is facing the former top-100 Aussie player, James Duckworth.

In the doubles, Bala and Arjun r the 4th seeds and facing Lopez Perez and Moriya ... Saki is playing with the Israeli veteran Jonathan Erlich and they r facing the ITF pair.

At $54K+H Bangkok 1A Challenger 2019, Thailand

[R2] Saketh Myneni (IND,255) vs (15) James Duckworth (AUS,210)

Doubles
[R1] (4) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) vs Enrique Lopez Perez (ESP)/ Hiroki Moriya (JPN)
[R1] Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs (ITF) Francis Casey Alcantara (PHI)/ Bernardo Saraiva (POR)

[PKBasu]

Interesting to see Saketh partnering with Jonathan Erlich, the 2008 Australian Open doubles champion. If Erlich is in any decent form, this pair should go far (perhaps to the title!).
Ideal would be if they make the final,and play Balaji/Arjun in the final!

[meyyis]

At $54K+H Bangkok 1A Challenger 2019, Thailand

[R1] Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,271) l. Kevin King (USA,303) : 7-5, 4-6, 2-6
[R2] Saketh Myneni (IND,255) l. (15) James Duckworth (AUS,210) : 4-6, 0-6

Doubles
[R1] (4) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) l. Enrique Lopez Perez (ESP)/ Hiroki Moriya (JPN) : 7-5, 4-6, 9-11
[R1] Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs (ITF) Francis Casey Alcantara (PHI)/ Bernardo Saraiva (POR)

[sameerph]

So, our poor singles form continues for second week.

Somehow, our players never seem to do well in Thailand. Don't know why as weather would be similar to India. Some players earlier had said that balls used are heavier. Checked the records of our good players in last few years- Somdev, Yuki, RamK, Saketh, Prajnesh. None of them have won more than a round or two at challenger level in Thailand.

Hope Prajnesh can break that sequence this week.

[jayakris]

^^^ The same thing is true for Korea. Maybe Japan too. China and Taiwan work much better for us. No real idea why.

[PKBasu]

Throughly disappointing and frustrating day

[prasen9]

Is SaMu overranked?

[Sin Hombre]

No

[sameerph]

He (Mukund) had quite a few wins over top 200 level players in last few months. So, he is not overranked. In fact he had a large period from June to October where he did not earn any points. So, if he can defend his points in April-May, he can go higher in the rankings. I only hope he does not have extensive lean period like he had last year after good run in April-May.

Prajnesh has taken the first set 7-5 against Yevseyev.

[sameerph]

But, Praj lost the second set 3-6. Is it going the same way as our other matches ?

[jayakris]

Prajnesh came through in the end

[R2] (1) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND, 97) d. (ITF) Denis Yvseyev (KAZ,320), 75 36 64
so,
[R3] (1) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND, 97) vs (16) Soonwoo Kwon (KOR,225)

[PKBasu]

Phew! Nice to have our #1 at least winning a match this week. Prajnesh edges down to 98 in the live rankings nonetheless. Just 7 points for that win, and one more win required to make the QF (which would be worth an additional 8 points).