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Prajnesh puts out Ashutosh

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Prajnesh Gunneswaran saved two matchpoints to beat the fifth-seeded Ashutosh Singh 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(7) in the first round of the PNB $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Tuesday.

In an entertaining contest that kept everyone spellbound for nearly three hours, the 18-year-old Prajnesh came up with his best game in the climax to score a revenge victory over the Delhi lad who had beaten him in the final of the National hardcourt championship at the same venue last year.

“I haven’t played on the hardcourts for quite some time, though I love playing on these courts. I have been training on the mental aspect with a psychologist and did not feel nervous at any stage. Of course, I need to improve my returns,” said Prajnesh, who had bounced back from 1-4 in the first set tie-break to take the set.

He had lost the grip with a below par fare in the first game of the second set when he got broken, but played with considerable resolve in the decider, in which he could have wound up the show a lot earlier but for missing three breakpoints at 0-40 in the fourth game.

Lively contest

The 6’ 2” tall Prajnesh will be challenged by the young wild card entrant Ronak Manuja, who ousted Vaja Uzakov of Uzbekistan in straight sets in another lively contest.

V.M. Ranjeet, a quarterfinalist last week in Chennai, outclassed the third-seeded Hyun-Woo Nam of Korea in straight sets. He will meet teammate and another quarterfinalist of last week P.C. Vignesh in the next round.

The top-seeded Peter Gojowczyk of Germany took time to settle down, but played well to pull past Rohan Gajjar 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in two hours and 12 minutes.

The results (Indians unless specified): Singles (first round): Peter Gojowczyk (Ger) bt Rohan Gajjar 4-6, 7-5, 6-2; Vishnu Vardhan bt Shivang Mishra 6-1, 6-1; Rupesh Roy bt Divij Sharan 7-5, 6-3; Sunil Kumar bt Suresh Krishna 6-4, 6-0; Tushar Liberhan bt Prateek Bhambri 6-3, 6-2; Yasir Khan (Pak) bt Navinder Pal Singh 6-3, 4-6, 6-0; Aqeel Khan (Pak) bt Whit Livingston (USA) 7-6(11), 6-1; P.C. Vignesh bt Mithun Murali 6-3, 6-2; V.M. Ranjeet bt Hyun-Woo Nam (Kor) 6-3, 7-5; Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt Ashutosh Singh 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(7); Ronak Manuja bt Vaja Uzakov (Uzb) 7-6(6), 6-3; Yuichi Sugita (Jpn) bt Rahil Makharia 6-1, 6-2.

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