Sweden’s Elias Ymer scored a most deserving straight-set 6-2, 7-5 win over Prajnesh Gunneswaran to take the men’s singles title of the $50000 MSLTA KPIT Challenger at the Balewadi Sports Complex here on Saturday.
Ymer won his 13th hard court match this year; he has won 12 on clay and as many on indoor carpet. It was also Ymer’s second ATP title in three weeks and also of the year.
The peril of over-worked limbs becoming vulnerable became a distinct possibility as Prajnesh stepped on the centre court seeking back-to-back ATP titles just like Ymer.
After the semifinal win on Friday against the top seed Albot Radu, the 29-year-old Indian talked about the predicament of playing professional tennis almost every day and that it could take toll on the body.
As it transpired, playing his 10th match in 11 days, and for a title with a weight of 80 ATP points, Prajnesh appeared listless and even crashed his forehands on the net.
Three long rallies in as many games reflected both players’ wherewithal to slug it out, staying back and slamming the ball. Ymer kept the ball in play, hitting and slicing it, and broke Prajnesh in the sixth and eighth games; the first after trailing 15-40 and the second, leading 40-15.
The Swede was marginally getting better after winning the first set; Prajnesh, perhaps a far cry from his best, hung on, even recovering from 15-40 in the eighth game of the second set. He had a break point to lead 5-4, but a dogged effort Ymer denied.
Prajnesh held the 10th game at love, but lost the 12th similarly, that in a way suggested that nerves had taken over at a crucial stage of the match. Prajnesh did not give up at any stage of the match, but it was an evening when the Swede looked to be in command.
The results (final): Elias Ymer (Swe) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-2, 7-5.
Doubles: Ramkumar Ramanathan & N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Chang Peng Hsieh (Taipei) & Tsung-Hua Yang (Taipei) 7-6(3), 6-7(5), [10-7].
