US Challengers 2021

[RohitG]

At what timestamp does he argue with opponent's family and coach? Is it there on footage?

[Dinesh]

Off to a new week! At the Lexington Challenger, we have the following first round match-ups:

Prajnesh, who is seeded third, faces Pete Polansky. Ramkumar faces WU Tung-Lin, against whom he hasn’t won in all 2 encounters. And, Sasikumar Mukund plays Brayden Schnur.

VSP/Ramkumar and Balaji/Margaroli also feature in the doubles draw.

All of the singles matches seem tricky and unpredictable to me.

[Sanjay]

At what timestamp does he argue with opponent's family and coach? Is it there on footage?

Go here:
https://www.atptour.com/en/atp-challeng ... 1/7316/all

Scroll to 9:47.
1-4, Deuce in the 2nd set.

[Sanjay]

I hope RR gets a grip on himself and focuses on tennis. Tantrums are tolerated only for Top 20 players as they bring in the revenue (few exceptions apply). That is how life works. Everyone else needs to shut up and play. PG does that. SN gets mad but only at himself.
He has the talent, he just needs to focus on what is important and let everything else go.

[usaindia]

Sasikumar Mukund (alt) def Brayden Schnur 6-3,6-4
Tung-Lin Wu lost Ramkumar Ramanathan 4-6,0-6

[prasen9]

Good luck to Mukund and RaRa.

[Rajiv]

*Prajnesh in shock straight set loss,against an lower ranked opponent where he was favoured to win,probably affected by last week's loss and was quite tentative and not looking confident in his play.
*Ram carrying on his superb form which helped him reach the Finals last week, and don't know when was the last time he baggled his opponent at a Challenger, and that too over a player who has dominating H2H record over him.
*Mukund with one of his best ever wins in recent times, and feel so happy for him.

[jaydeep]

Yes, good wins for Ram and especially for Mukund. But bad straight sets loss for Prajnesh.

[PKBasu]

Sad to see Prajnesh's decline -- partly mental clearly, but also perhaps in match-sharpness.
Excellent win for Mukund (a rare one for him) over former world #92 Brayden Schnur. Great to see Ramkumar sustain his excellent form.

[usaindia]

Today at the Lexington challenger,

[R1] N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (3) Christian Harrison (USA)/ Dennis Novikov (USA)

[jayakris]

For the record,
$52K Lexington Challenger, USA (Hard)

[R1] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,155) l. Peter Polansky (CAN,243), 36 46
[R1] (Alt) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,327) d. Brayden Schnur (CAN,247), 63 64
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,207) d. Tung-Lin Wu (TPE,270), 64 60

[R1] (2) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Luca Margaroli (SUI) l. (WC) Alex Rybakov (USA)/ Reese Stalder (USA), 67(4) 46

[prasen9]

RaRam next faces the Canadian Polansky in the R16.

[jayakris]

Coming up at the $52K Lexington Challenger

[R2] (Alt) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,327) vs (Q) Genaro Alberto Olivieri (ARG,396)
[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,207) vs Peter Polansky (CAN,243)

[R1] N.V. S.Prashanth (IND)/ R.Ramanathan (IND) vs (3) C.Harrison (USA)/ D.Novikov (USA)

[jayakris]

Because the second seed was a withdrawal or something and qualifier Olivieri took his spot and upset Mitchell Krueger(who must have been tired after the Cary win), Mukund gets a qualifier in the second round. That does not mean it will be easy, but at least easier than to have to face a second seed. Hope Mukund takes advantage. That was a great win yesterday against Schnur.

Olivieri's story is pretty interesting there. He beat the 6th seed in the qualies Q1 on a retirement at 36 76... Then he won the Q2 again on a retirement in the third set by a guy who had taken out the third seed in the Q1 earlier... Olieveri then he takes the spot of the 2nd seed who had withdrawn, in the main draw, so he wouldn't face a seed for 2 more rounds... And he gets a guy who was on his 6th match in 7 days (Krueger), and beats him. That is effectively like getting a retirement again. So he has been somewhat lucky, to say the least. Now he gets a qualifier again. That is 4th time lucky in a row. I think it is time for his luck to run out. Let us hope it happens against Mukund tomorrow!

[sameerph]

But, he did Mukund last week in a close 3 setter. So, Mukund will have to play well to reverse that result.