Eighth-seeded Prajnesh Gunneswaran beat all odds and won a lopsided semifinal against South Korean No. 2 seed Duckhee Lee to make his first appearance in an ATP Challenger final.
Playing the second semifinal of the $50, 000 KPIT-MSLTA Challenger at the Centre Court of the Balewadi Sports Complex here on Friday, the Chennai-based left-hander served an ace each to win the last point of either set and clinch the match played over one hour and three minutes.
Prajnesh’s 6-2, 7-5 win has assured him of 48 ATP points, the highest raked in by an Indian in a Challenger this year.
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He will face unseeded Frenchman Sadio Doumbia, who showed remarkable calmness for almost two hours to win his semifinal against Serbian Nikola Milojevic 5-7, 6-3, 6-2. The winner will get 80 ATP points and $7,200.
There were 18 Indians in the 32-card draw and the discerning probably did not look beyond heavyweights like Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan to advance as far as the title match, but Prajnesh upset all calculations and took No. 3 seed Myneni in his stride on Thursday in the quarterfinals.
Although he began with a double fault, Prajnesh was in control of his first serves, returned deep, and matched his opponent stroke for stroke.
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After running away with the opening set in 25 minutes, Prajnesh was up 4-2 when he dropped a game and allowed Lee to come back at 4-4. But it did not turn out to be Lee’s day, as he mishit many strokes, playing virtually from the baseline.
“I was not really thinking about how the score would go. I knew what to expect. I felt my game was well suited to play him because he is a little short, and when I go cross court and top spin it, it would hurt him a bit. I tried to make him as uncomfortable as possible and I think that worked.”
It was Prajnesh’s second win over Lee. “For me, it was someone I had played and beaten (in Bangkok). So his ranking of 152 did not count too much because it’s barely been a month and a half since I beat him the first time.”
The results: Semifinals: Sadio Doumbia (Fra) bt Nikola Milojevic (Srb) 5-7, 6-3, 6-2; Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt Duckhee Lee (Kor) 6-2, 7-5. Doubles: Purav Raja & Divij Sharan bt Nikola Milojevic & Danilo Petrovic (Srb) 6-4, 6-2.
Correction: The quote “I played against him....long” that appeared in the report on Friday was Prajnesh’s and not Saketh Myneni’s as published.