Prajnesh makes the quarterfinals

Sasi Kumar rallies to win; Arjun Kadhe makes his exit

Staying alive: Sasi Kumar Mukund bounced back to make the last eight.

An excellent year embellished with a handful of title wins has made Prajnesh Gunneswaran take on opponents with a confident deportment.

In a scrap between left-handers, Prajnesh brushed aside the challenge posed by Germany’s Lucas Grech, winning 6-1, 6-3 in under an hour, in the pre-quarterfinals of the $50000 MSLTA-KPIT Challenger here on Wednesday.

Local boy Arjun Kadhe competed hard in the first set against Canada’s Brayden Schnur, but once he lost it, there were only diminishing returns for the Indian in the second.

The match against a tough opponent demanded display of fitness, skill and execution of winners for two hours, but Kadhe could not take the contest to a level and Schnur was able to take control.

Turnaround

The story of the third day was a remarkable turnaround in form fashioned by Sasi Kumar Mukund against the higher-ranked No. 6 seed Jay Clarke of Great Britain. Ranked 181st in the world, the 20-year-old Clarke fired heavy-duty serves and hit the ball hard and deep to take the first set.

Undeterred, Sasi Kumar made a do-or-die effort in the second set; he hit the ball hard, long and on either flanks to win big points and the set.

Mukund showed an improvement in his service games in the third set and led 4-1 when Clarke walked up to the chair umpire to announce his retirement from the match. Trailing 1-2, the Briton had taken medical treatment from a physio.

When asked about his comeback, Mukund said: “It shows how much I have to improve in order to close out matches.

“I am learning. For my level, I played a very good quality of tennis. I had to step it up in the second as he was getting solid from the back.”

The results (pre-quarter-finals): Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt Lucas Grech (Ger) 6-1,6-3; Sasi Kumar Kumund bt Jay Clarke (GBr) 5-7, 6-4, 4-1 (retd); Brayden Schnur (Can) bt Arjun Kadhe 7-5, 6-2; Silva Frederico Ferreira (Por) bt Nicola Kuhn (Spain) 7-5,7-5; Albot Radu (Mdv) bt Maverick Banes (Aus) 6-3,6-1; Sebastian Fanselow (Ger) bt Max Purcell (Aus) 6-2,6-1; Elias Ymer (Swe) bt Daniel Masur (Ger) 6-3,7-6 (4); Alexsandr Nedovyesov (Kaz) bt Ben Patael (Isr) 7-5,6-4 .