Prajnesh Gunneswaran thread

[jayakris]

[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND, 184) l. Brayden Schnur (CAN, 243), 57 36

So, that is that for our guys in the challenger QFs this week. At least we had two QFs.

[sameerph]

But, disappointing that both of them lost what seemed winnable matches in the QF and lost out on bigger points ( especially for Prajnesh who had 4-0 head to head against Schnur). This is what is happening this year for our player, they are missing out on big points at later stages of challengers.

[PKBasu]

Knoxville Challenger

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND, 180) d. Mikael Torpegaard (DEN, 211) 62 76(2)

Next up, Prajnesh Gunneswaran vs. 5-Jack Sock (USA, 149; CH 8).

[sameerph]

Good win for Prajnesh. He had lost to the same player in straight sets before he took a break in September. So, there is definite improvement in his game since he took that break. Next one against former top 10 player Sock would be tough though. Sock beat Prajnesh in straight sets in April this year but last year Prajnesh had beaten him in 3 close sets.

[arjun2761]

Here's hoping that Prajnesh can take out Sock. Sock was legit top 10 or top 20 type player for a while but isn't the same now, so an in-form Prajnesh has a decent chance of advancing.

[jayakris]

Nice to see Prajnesh again playing some good quality tennis and getting some wins. I was worried if he was getting done with his career, earlier. Not yet. Go Gunner!!

[suresh]

[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran l (5) Jack Sock 3-6 6-7(1)

Prajnesh lost but looks like he has fully recovered from his wrist injury.

[Rajiv]

Yes game seems to be back to normal , but the worrying part are the points , has to protect 103 points in the remaining 2 tournaments he has entered.
Unless he does exceptionally well in either one of them, his year end ranking is going to take a huge dive.

[sameerph]

Yes, unless he picks up those points he will fall off to around 220-225 , same range as RamK and Sumit are now and all 3 will be competing for year end India #1 but at this lower range. Thankfully, all 3 will be safe for AO qualies though.

But, lets hope Prajnesh and RamK will pick up some big points somewhere in coming weeks to stay/get close to top 200. The draws at coming challengers is going to be weaker than the ongoing ones.

[Sanjay]

PG bad loss in Champaign.
What happened, I saw someone was injured. Was it PG?

[vparam]

Go to the US challenger thread.

[Rajiv]

Unlike Yuki & Ram, who will take a break till the Indian leg , Prajnesh is going to continue with Tennis and next week is at the Forli Challenger where he is last player in the MD list , after that he continues in Europe and is in the quali list at Quimper and 13 out from the MD.

[PKBasu]

So he is planning to skip the Maharashtra Open? That would be a surprise, and a mistake. He is surely eligible for a main draw wildcard at Pune.

[Rajiv]

Forli is 1st week and Quimper 2nd week of AO, and Poona ATP is after the AO, so Prajnesh wont be missing it and playing with a WC assured.

[Rajiv]

Tough opener for Prajnesh at Forli, 2nd seed Quintin Halys, The Frenchman is in good nick having reached a challenger qtrs b4 the qualies and at the qualies lost a close 3 setter in the FQR.
But then Praj has an uncanny knack of bouncing back with the back to the walls, hope he can create an upset.