Prajnesh Gunneswaran posted the biggest win of his career as he beat world number 24 Denis Shapovalov on Wednesday in the Stuttgart Open, an ATP 250 event.
Prajnesh prevailed over the Canadian 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-3 in an hour and 48 minutes in his maiden ATP World Tour level event to set up a second-round match against Argentina’ Guido Pella on Thursday. A win here could set up a possible match against Roger Federer in the quarterfinals.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the grass court season. In the first set, I was serving well and he was a bit slow which helped me take it,” said Prajnesh.
“In the second set, I played one loose game and he capitalised while I couldn’t convert the breakpoint chances I had. But in the third set, I got my return games going and raced to a 5-0 lead and could have closed it out sooner but still I am very happy with the way it turned out.”
Speaking on the pain of missing out on the French Open, Prajnesh said, “I felt bad for a few days and I did not compete well in that challenger tournament, but I got over it quickly.”
