American Challengers 2020

[jayakris]

Yeah, let's do this. So wonderful to see Prajnesh with his moxie back. Go for a title, man!

[sameerph]

From 1-3 down in the first set, Prajnesh wins 5 of the next 6 games to win the first set 6-4.

[sameerph]

In the second set, Prajnesh broke Eubanks in 9th game to lead 5-4.

But, got broken at 30 while serving for the match at 5-4.

On to second set tie break.

And she just breezees theu the tie break and goes thru to the final.

At Orlando Challenger 80, Florida, USA

[SF] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,137) d. Christopher Eubanks (USA,239) 64 76(1)

Very solid performance by Prajnesh to make his second consecutive challenger final.

I do not think we had anyone make back to back challenger finals in US before.

[Rajiv]

This also marks a 3rd straight Final by an Indian in as many a weeks, don't think this hatrick of finals feat has ever happened before for India .

[jayakris]

Fantastic work by Prajnesh!! ... Let us get the title now. Come on!

[Atithee]

And she just breezees theu the tie break and goes thru to the final.

He should play like she more often

[Sanjay]

I didn't get to watch it but was following it.

Thing about PG is that when he is down on his own serve, I feel confident that he will fight back. And most times he does. He never gives up and throws in the towel. Fights in difficult situations.

Nakashima is a very dangerous opponent. He is 11 years younger than PG. Should be good, I hope PG can jump to a good head start.

PG seems to be closing out his year after this match. I hope this is a winner!

[prasen9]

He comes up to #128. Still far away from #75 his career high. I hope he can pull together a run for a last hurrah.

[Sanjay]

He comes up to #128. Still far away from #75 his career high. I hope he can pull together a run for a last hurrah.

If he wins tomorrow, he will go up to 124. Not a big jump but a huge one for confidence and looking to next year.
Challengers won' let him make big jumps, he needs to play and go deep into ATP tournaments. He needs about 350 points more to get to Rank 75. He can do it if he continues his current form into next year.
I am excited!

Disappointed about RR. I think he needs to take some time off and sort out his mind. Nagal, well he is young so this is the time to show what he can do.

[prasen9]

Nagal is not that young anymore. He is 23, which is the time when men's tennis players have started to peak traditionally. Next year will be crucial for him and yes, time for him to show what he can do.

[Sanjay]

Nagal is not that young anymore. He is 23, which is the time when men's tennis players have started to peak traditionally. Next year will be crucial for him and yes, time for him to show what he can do.

You are right... but I think Indians and Asians in generally physically mature later than the Caucasians. So while there may be no 18 year old GS winners, we may have players doing well in their mid to late 20s.

This isn't the 70s when we had Vijay, and the game has moved on so dreaming about a singles GS is useless. A good goal for the next 5 years should be a top 50 player. I am surprised that none of the business houses is taking this on with a war footing.

BTW, Nakashima is 0.5 UTR higher than Prajnesh, so he is on paper the better player though rankings are the the opposite.
PG has to dig in and pull this one out.

[Sanjay]

Come on, FIGHT! FIGHT!!

[sameerph]

Prjanesh played well and tried his best but Nakashima was just a bit better today. Prajnesh had his best chance when he was 40-0 up when Nakashima was serving at 4-3 but could not covert. PG went 0-8 on breakpoints today.

At Orlando Challenger 80, Florida, USA

[F] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,137) l. Brendon Nakashima (USA,202) 36 46

[PKBasu]

Nakashima is something of a phenom, very well supported by USTA, and coached by Pat Cash. But the inability to convert a single breakpoint suggests that Prajnesh gets tight in finals, which explains his third consecutive loss in a Challenger final. The fact that he is making the final consistently is wonderful, but the inability to win finals is a bummer that is preventing a jump in ranking.

[jaydeep]

overall a couple of really good week for Prajnesh and nice to see him back in the top-130 rankings .. Now, a 5-6 weeks break before start of new season.