Eighth seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran scored the biggest win of his career against India Davis Cupper and No. 3 seed Saketh Myneni in the quarterfinals of the $50,000 KPIT-MSLTA Challenger at the Balewadi Sports Complex here on Thursday.
Prajnesh will take on Korea’s No. 2 seed Duckhee Lee in the semifinals on Friday.
“I played against him a few weeks ago in Bangkok and beat him. That was a different court, different conditions and a different day. I hope I play the same way and see if I can come out on top,” said Prajnesh. Playing his 13th tournament this year, he believes his injury woes are over.
Delighted at his win and securing a place in the last four, Prajnesh said: “I had my chances in the first set. I was up a break; he played one loose game. I should have just held my nerve, but I made too many unforced errors. In the second set, I held my serves and I was waiting for that one chance to break and I took it.
“With two breaks I managed to take the second set. I thought he would come out firing in the third set, but I played the first couple of games well and he lost a little bit of rhythm and I made it tougher for him.”
Saketh was not in peak condition and Prajnesh was sympathetic towards his opponent. “Since his shoulder was not in great condition, it makes it worse when losing. It gets into your head and makes you think that things are really going worse. I think that did not help him. I wish we were in different quarters, but I feel happy that I am there to keep the Indian flag flying high.’’
Prajnesh is currently ranked 346 in the ATP list, and it has to be seen where the 29 points he is assured of will take him. “It’s the first time I am in the Challenger semis. I have won a couple of ITF Futures. I am really happy, but to be honest I would like to just keep doing this all the time. I feel that I can be at this level, but I don’t want to be carried away. Just because I will get 29 ATP points here (as of now) and I don’t want to put myself under too much pressure. I would like to use the right tactics and play it my way. And the results should come.”
A disappointed Saketh said: “I played him a long time ago. Maybe 10 years ago, when I was 16 and he 18. So the gap has been long.
On an eventful day when Prajnesh defeated a higher-ranked opponent 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-0, France’s Sadio Doumbia beat the Russian top seed Evgeny Donskoy 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
In the first quarterfinal played at the Centre Court, Lee outplayed Kazakhstan’s Popko 6-3, 6-4.
The results (quarterfinals): Sadio Doumbia (Fra) bt Evgeny Donskoy (Rus) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4; Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt Saketh Myneni 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-0; Duckhee Lee (Kor) bt Dmitri Popko (Kaz) 6-3, 6-4; Nikola Milojevic (Srb) bt Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (Esp) 6-4, 7-6(3).
