pre-US Open hard court ATP season 2019

[sameerph]

Lost the second set 3-6.

[jayakris]

Down 2-4 and 0-40 on serve in the third... Now 2-5, down two breaks. Not looking good

ATP US$858 Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex 2019, Los Cabos, Mexico

[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,90) l. (5) Taylor Fritz (USA,28), 64 36 26

[Rajiv]

Lost in 3 sets .
But no shame in this loss , taking World # 28 to 3 sets is a commendable effort.

[sameerph]

Yes, pretty good fight against a top 30 player by Prajnesh. This week should give him a lot of his confidence back.

Surprisingly, it seems he is not playing Montreal and Cincy Masters qualies in next couple of weeks. Looks like 2 weeks off now for him, then Winston Salem ATP and then US open. A bit surprising to be taking 2 weeks off at this stage.

[PKBasu]

Prajnesh should be heartened by the fact that he took he first set off world #28 (who is at that career high ranking because of his strong current form). But that he couldn’t sustain it and seemed to fade toward the end is a sobering reminder that fitness still needs to be honed further.

[arjun2761]

Beating #67 and losing in 3 sets to #28 is a very good performance from Prajnesh! Looks like he is getting back to his best form and/or fitness. Taking a break here may indicate that he wants to make sure he does not aggravate anything and that may be the smart thing to do at this stage. Otherwise, he'd have to win 2 tough matches in qualies at the Masters events to start earning significant points and money and the injury aggravation risk may have counseled against it...

[jaydeep]

Divij and Erlich r in the semis with a comfortable win over Verdugo and Novikov ... Next, they r facing the top-seed Inglot and Krajicek.

At $858 Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex 2019, Los Cabos, Mexico

[QF] Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt (WC) Hans Hach Verdugo (MEX)/ Dennis Novikov (USA) 62 64

[SF] Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs (1) Dominic Inglot (GBR)/ Austin Krajicek (USA)

[PKBasu]

I think it was a good idea for Prajnesh to skip one of the Masters qualifiers (at Montreal) but skipping both is a bit too cautious!

[PKBasu]

Taylor Fritz knocked out top seeded Fognini in straight sets in the QF, so Prajnesh’s performance looks all the more impressive.

[jaydeep]

Divij and Erlich run ended in the semis against the top-seeds ... After losing the first set they tried to fight back and won the second set ... But Krajicek and Inglot were too strong for them in the match tie-break.

At $858 Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex 2019, Los Cabos, Mexico

[SF] Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l (1) Dominic Inglot (GBR)/ Austin Krajicek (USA) 26 63 3-10

[PKBasu]

Prajnesh is playing at Winston-Salem next week; good scheduling before the US Open. He plays Germany’s Cedric-Marcel Stebe in R1 and possibly top seeded Benoit Paire in R2.

Lots of Indians bunched in the bottom quarter of the doubles draw. Paes/Erlich play Ram/Salisbury in R1, and the winner could play Bopanna/Sharan in R2. The latter must first beat Monroe/Sandgren.

[PKBasu]

Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND, 91) vs. PR-Cedric-Marcel Stebe (GER, 253) will be played on Sunday afternoon in Winston-Salem. Good opportunity for Prajnesh to gain another ATP tour win over a clay-courter, who made the final of the ATP Gstaad last month on clay but lost to Soonwoo Kim in Los Cabos (R1) on a hard court, and hasn't won much outside clay courts so far this year.

Stebe's career high of 71 (reached in 2012) is not much higher than Prajnesh's 75 (this year!). So Prajnesh goes in as overwhelming favourite in this match.

[jaydeep]

At $807K Winston-Salem Open 2019, North Carolina, U.S.A

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,91) vs (PR) Cedrik-Marcel Stebe (GER,253)

Doubles
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs (WC) Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Tennys Sandgren (USA)
[R1] (WC) Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (2) Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Joe Salisbury (GBR)

[PKBasu]

Prajnesh breaks to take a 4-1 lead in the first set!

[PKBasu]

And Prajnesh wins the first set 6-3 with his first ace of the match. Dominant: 33 points to 23 in that set!