Prajnesh Gunneswaran thread

[knarayen]

Prajnesh comes thru in another 3 setter.

At M25 Tbilisi, Georgia (Hard)

[QF] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,327) d. Aleksandre Bakshi (GEO,767) 76(4) 26 76(3)

Next,

[SF] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,327) vs. Aleksandre Metreveli (GEO,633)

wow - wonder if he is related to the famous Alex Metreveli - who may also have been from Georgia since it was part of the Soviet Union back in the 70s!!

[jayakris]

He is actually Alex Metreveli's grandson. The same one who played us in Davis Cup in 1974. PKB had written about it some time ago in a thread here.

[sameerph]

Prajnesh is playing M25 in Sheffield, Great Britain on indoor hard courts this week where he is the third seed. Plays Daniel Little of Great Britain ranked 717 today.

[jayakris]

Prajnesh beat Daniel Little (GBR,731), 63 64, and plays Anton Matusevich (GBR,680) next in the R2.

[sameerph]

He is thru to QF with a 3 set win.

At M25 Sheffield, Great Britain

[R2] (3) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,350) d. Anton Matusevich (GBR,680) 63 46 62

Next,

[QF] (3) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,350) vs. (5) Erhard Mathys (FRA,399)

[sameerph]

Prajnesh moves thru with a dominating win.

At M25 Sheffield, Great Britain

[QF] (3) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,350) d. (5) Erhard Mathys (FRA,399) 62 61

Next,

[SF] (3) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,350) vs. Giles Hussey (GBR,547)

Hussey has beaten the top seed and 8th seed this week so far.

[jayakris]

Prajnesh lost to Hussey, 46 57.. He was down 2-4 in the second, and won like 11 of the next 12 points to make it 5-4 to try a comeback but a DF at 15-30 in the 11th game and a couple of shots hitting the line did him in. He is still not playing very well, in terms of accuracy. Everything else looks ok in his game except the shot-making accuracy when he goes for winners. He can engage in good rallies but can't be counted on making that winning shot.

[sameerph]

He is still not playing very well, in terms of accuracy. Everything else looks ok in his game except the shot-making accuracy when he goes for winners. He can engage in good rallies but can't be counted on making that winning shot.

Yes, only watched few points in his match today and he missed some shots that him in good form would make just due to lack of accuracy.

Same think was there with Ankita over the last few months but suddenly everything went alright in a week in Korea. So, it can all change in a matter of week. Hope that happens soon for Prajnesh.

[jayakris]

Any idea where Prajnesh is? I wonder why he didn't enter for the M25 in UK this week in Sunderland...

[Rajiv]

Probably taking a break as from 24th onwards has entered 2 Challenger in Australia.

[sameerph]

Yes, but there are still 2 weeks for that. I noticed that in the entry list for M25 in Sutherland, UK he is mentioned as automatic withdrawal due to being entered in Fairfield Challenger, US qualies in the same week and then he withdrew from Fairfield challenger too. I don't what are the rules for automatic withdrawal but it may happened that Prajnesh just forgot to withdraw his name from Fairfield challenger qualies and then was automatically withdrawn from Sutherland M25.

Otherwise, he could have played this week and then gone to Australia after a 1 week break. It happens in case of players sometime, not withdrawing the name on time or forgetting to enter the name somewhere.

[jayakris]

^^^ I was suspecting that some screw-up happened somewhere. There is no reason for him not to play Sunderland otherwise. Unfortunate, if so.

[Sanjay]

My son goes to college in Champaign, IL and he told me that there's a Challenger next week and Gunneswaran is playing! My son is a crazy tennis fan and player and will go to watch. He hopes to volunteer as a ballboy too.

[Sanjay]

Otherwise, he could have played this week and then gone to Australia after a 1 week break. It happens in case of players sometime, not withdrawing the name on time or forgetting to enter the name somewhere.

How do players enter their names? Do they do it online on the ATP website? How did they do it in the 70s? For example, how did Vijay register for Wimbledon in 1973?

[sameerph]

Prajnesh won the M25 title this week in Kuwait. These are his results this week-

At ITF M25 Al Zahra, Kuwait (Hard)

[R1] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,339) d. (Q) Guy Den Heijer (NED,1562) 61 76(5)
[R2] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,339) d. (Q) Dax Donders (NED,1032), 63 62
[QF] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,339) d. Jakub Mensik (CZE,415) 62 61
[SF] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,339) d. (2) Benjamin Hassan (GER,298) 64 26 60
[F] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,339) d. Khumoyun Sultanov (UZB,491) 62 76(5)

Good dominant display by Prajnesh as he lost only 1 set in SF on the way.

This is Prajnesh's 11 pro title (2 challengers and 9 ITF futures). But, more importantly his first one since 2018 Bengaluru Challenger. This should give him some confidence. He will move up to around 306-308 in the rankings when these points are updated a week later, getting close to top 300.