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They split the first two sets 6-2 4-6 and it is 2-2 in the decider.

Prajnesh lost 3-6 in the third set.

As we have been discussing this in Asian challengers thread, I will put the detailed score there.

Congratulations to Prajnesh Gunneswaran for winning the $150K+H Challenger in Kunming (Yunnan), with a terrific 6-1 romp in the final set of the final against Egypt’s Safwat. Prajnesh rises to a career high of 176 in the live rankings, and assured himself a place in the qualifying rounds of the French Open and Wimbledon.

At 28, Prajnesh has finally leapfrogged from the lower reaches of men’s tennis to the elite level. Congratulations on the dogged self-belief that has resulted in these terrific achievements, including an epic triumph in a Davis Cup match in frigid Tianjin against the reigning US Open junior champion.

Excellent stuff from Prajnesh.

He is not entered in any CH in the coming weeks so his next tournament is RG qualifying?

Yes, terrific win by Prajnesh for his first challenger title.

At $150K+H Anning Challenger 2018, China

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,260) bt (LL) Hugo Grenier (FRA,386) 62 61
[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,260) bt Andrew Whittington (AUS,271) 64 64
[QF] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,260) bt (8) Soon Woon Kwon (KOR,215) 62 63
[SF] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,260) bt Kamil Majchrzak (POL,231) 06 63 61

Singles Final
Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,260) bt Mohamed Safwat (EGY,226) 57 63 61

So, Prajnesh is inside top 200 being ranked at a career high# 176 now. I remember top 200 used to be such a rarity for us a decade back. Leander fell out of top 200 in January 2001 and after that we had no player in top 200 till Somdev broke thru 8 years later in January 2009. So, 1 player after 8 years gap and now after 8 more years we had 4 more players getting there- Yuki in 2012, Saketh in 2015, RamK in 2016 and now Prajnesh in 2018. It is such a good period last few years for Indian mens tennis compared to the the decade before that.

It is indeed a good time for Indian tennis. I just hope atleast 2 of the 4 keep up their performance for next 2-3 years.

And it is just a matter of time before Sumit joins the elite Top 200 list.

And as sameer said top 200 was unheard off and now all of a sudden potentially we have 4 guys making up the top 200 list..

And to carry on further if Saki maintains his current form , by the end of the year he too could be back , and than we have Arjun , Mukund both of them capable of reaching Top 200.

Can we dare to dream to have 7 guys in top 200 by the year end.

I feel if he is injury free and selects his tournaments carefully, Arjun will definitely be in the top 200 before the year end

And don't forget the lone female Ankita in the top 200 already

We discussed this mid-last year when we debated as this as the best phase of Indian Tennis after the Amritrajs and for people like me, in my lifetime so far. Quite a few of us were apprehensive but glad its turning out to be good so far.

On the womens side too, glad to see Mahak under safe hands now, similar to Karman. With Ankita / Karman / Mahak, we should have 3 top-200 players in 2-3 yrs time. Hopefully we would see 2 from the others like Zeel, Pranjala, Kanika, Rutuja and others rise up and somehow make it to top-200 too.

Hope Sumit can turn a corner this week and start doing well again. He has a decent draw, and I hope he capitalizes on it. He should take inspiration from his country and Waske TU team-mate

I too feel it is a matter of 1 week for Sumit to turn his form around. But, it is not going to be this week unfortunately as I posted the scores in his thread and he lost in first round.

Sin Hombre wrote: ↑Sun Apr 29, 2018 4:22 pm He is not entered in any CH in the coming weeks so his next tournament is RG qualifying?

In a brief interview with Kamesh, Prajnesh mentions he needs to give some exams for a management course he is persuing and plans to give it Frankfurt where he will also train for French open simultaneously.

Ideally, would like him to play at least 1 week of tournament in Europe before French open qualies. He can probably play qualies at $100K(+H) Heilbronn challenger in May 14 week if he is in Germany and his exam duties are done.

Sunder Iyer's post on Face Book:

India has 43 tennis players in the Men’s singles and 40 players in the doubles who have an ATP ranking. it has 21 women’s singles player and 23 doubles players who are ranked on the WTA rankings .

In Men’s singles we have 10 players in top 550 rankings which includes 1 in Top 100 (Yuki ) 2 in Top 200( Prajnesh , Ram ), 1 in 250 ( Sumit) 4 players in 500 and 2 players in 550 bracket.

In the men’s doubles we have 4 players in the Top 100, 3 players in 150 bracket and 5 players in the 350 bracket.

These numbers surely suggest that #IndianTennis has finally found its footing on the world stage. I’m sure and confident, it can just get better from here.

The challenge is now to get many more players into the rankings and helping those in the rankings to improve them and move faster on the world stage.

Prajnesh with his new rank of 175 entered at the Vicenza ATP Challenger in Italy for the first week of RG. I hope he doesn't have to play here and qualify at the slam instead.