Indian Wells/Miami ATP 1000, March 2019

[knarayen]

You're welcome Kujo. I hope he gets a good draw this time. I am sensing that he has learned from Indian Wells and is playing better thus far. Weather closer to that of Chennai - hope that works for him!

Prof

[sameerph]

Prajnesh has emulated what Yuki had last year so far, qualifying in both Indian Wells and Miami. Now, needs to win at least a round here to emulate Yuki's performance of last year.

These appear to be possible opponent -

Klizan, Q vs Q, Haase, Sandgren, Lajovic, Munar, Struff, Ebden, Humbert, Mayer, L , Tomic and Jaziri.

Not bad choices.

[arjun2761]

Yes, great performance by the Gunner to qualify with 2 confident wins! The list of potential first round opponents also looks decent. Fully expecting the Gunner to win at least one round in the main draw here and hopefully he can go further...

He is the saving of the Indian mens tennis this year. Ramk, Saketh, and Sumit have looked completely overmatched this year at their levels of competition while Yuki isn't going to be back until May. Mukund is the only other top Indian mens players who is pulling out some wins but hasn't put together a run.

[knarayen]

The Q vs Q choices are (if he gets into one of those slots):

Auger-Aliassime, Cuevas, Opelka, Lacko, Albot, Sonego, Monteiro, Ruud, Bublik, Rublev, Ymer.

He hasn't done well against Ymer thus far (I think this is the same one not his brother to whom he has lost twice at least). The best option for him here may be Monteiro if that happens - just my guess.

Prof

[Prem]

Prajnesh draws Spaniard Jaume Munar in round 1.
Last match on court 2 tomorrow...

[PKBasu]

Great to see the ease with which Prajnesh has qualified into both the Masters tournaments. His consistency has been wonderful. Now for a couple of main draw wins to take him onto a completely new ranking zone: he is already at a career high of 81 in the live rankings.

Thanks a lot, Sameer and Prof, for the commentary.

[Varma]

Look at Prajnesh's possible main-draw opponents (sorted by their ranking)...

Dusan Lajovic (44)
Jan-Lennard Struff (45)
Martin Klizan (48)
Matthew Ebden (50)
Malek Jaziri (59)
Jaume Munar (61)
Ugo Humbert (63)
Leonardo Mayer (62)
Robin Haase (65)
Tennys Sandgren (91)
Qualifier

Can't ask for better odds at a Masters 1000 event!

- Varma

[PKBasu]

Prajnesh’s chances against clay courter Jaume Munar (ESP, 61) should be pretty good. R2, however, is against Kevin Anderson.

[arjun2761]

Like the chances of Prajnesh against Munar on hard courts. Kevin Anderson will no doubt be a tough matchup but Prajnesh will have the benefit of the recent experience of playing a tall big server in Karlovic.

[Sin Hombre]

Munar won 2 rounds in Pune but lost in the first round in the 3 other tournaments he has played on HC this year. Prajnesh should start as the slight favourite.

[jaydeep]

A confident win for Prajnesh ...

Prof thanks, an excellent commentary ...

[knarayen]

So Munar it is - i hope he makes good use of this chance. Q vs Q position is always tougher because the other guy has the same match practice as you and is conditioned to the courts and weather as well. It is never a slam dunk at this level, the courts are playing a bit slow from what i read, but I still favor Gunner’s chances. Lets take it one match at a time.
gunner!!

Prof

[PKBasu]

Munar, of course, isn't a qualifier, so that gives Prajnesh a clear advantage in R1.
The last direct acceptance was Janko Tipsarevic (ranked 88 at the time of entries). Yet, the top seed in the singles qualifying was #53 Radu Albot. (Perhaps many people like Albot forgot to send in entries on time for the main draw..?).

[sameerph]

The last direct acceptance was Janko Tipsarevic (ranked 88 at the time of entries). Yet, the top seed in the singles qualifying was #53 Radu Albot. (Perhaps many people like Albot forgot to send in entries on time for the main draw..?).

No. That is because the main draw entry cut off is 6 weeks prior. At that in early February, Albot was ranked 90. He shot up the rankings after winning the Delray Beach ATP title in mid February. In fact he is in top 50 now ( ranked 46) after a good run at Indian Wells.

Prajnesh beat Albot in Pune Challenger SF in November. If Albot can make it to top 50, why not Prajnesh ?

[knarayen]

Prajnesh beat Albot in Pune Challenger SF in November. If Albot can make it to top 50, why not Prajnesh ?

Prajnesh himself made the comment at one time that he sees himself in the top 50 very soon. I like that confidence.

Prof