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Prajnesh goes down without a fight to Aqeel

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: A below par Prajnesh Gunneswaran crashed out of the PNB $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament without a fight against the seventh-seeded Aqeel Khan who cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 victory in the semifinals at the DLTA Complex here on Friday.

After Prajnesh’s impressive show — he knocked out the second-seeded Yuichi Sugita of Japan and the National champion and fifth seed Ashutosh Singh — a lot was expected from the 18-year-old left-hander.

However, the 6’ 2” tall Prajnesh looked content with what he had done in the tournament and was perhaps troubled by a stomach muscle pull as well. He called the physical trainer briefly after losing the first set, but conceded that he did not play his best against a crafty opponent.

Right from the time when he dropped serve at love in the second game, Prajnesh looked out of sorts and it came as no surprise that he could not convert any of the five break chances he had in the third and ninth games.

Costly error

In fact, Prajnesh could have fought back into the match but for missing a simple overhead in a tricky ninth game, much to the surprise of everyone, including former Davis Cup captain Jaidip Mukherjea who made it a point to watch the lad in the first set.

The script did not change in the second set as Prajnesh slid to 0-4, dropping serve in the first game with a double fault and in the third game with some erratic play.

The seasoned Aqeel, quite knowledgeable about handling the Indian challenge, saved two breakpoints each in the sixth and eighth games to be home in an hour and 17 minutes.

The effort was, however, worth six ATP points and $720 for Prajnesh who had done well to make the quarterfinals of a similar tournament in Spain as a qualifier while earning his first ATP points. He will return to Spain on Sunday to continue his training.

Aqeel will have the unenviable task of challenging the best player in the tournament, the top-seeded Peter Gojowczyk of Germany. The champion of the tournament last week in Chennai, Gojowczyk toyed with the sixth-seeded Hsin-Han Lee of Chinese Taipei while making the final.

Sweet revenge

In the doubles summit clash, it was sweet revenge for the top-seeded Ashutosh Singh and Sunil Kumar as the duo outplayed Divij Sharan and Vishnu Vardhan for the loss of just four games. Ashutosh and Sunil had lost to the same opponents in the final in Chennai.

The doubles winners shared $945 and collected 18 ATP points each, and the runners-up pocketed $495 and 12 points.

The results:

Singles (semifinals): Peter Gojowczyk (Ger) bt Hsin-Han Lee (Tpe) 6-2, 6-3; Aqeel Khan (Pak) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-3, 6-2.

Doubles (final): Ashutosh Singh & Sunil Kumar bt Divij Sharan & Vishnu Vardhan 6-2, 6-2.

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