Tata Open: Prajnesh, Ram eye strong start
PUNE: Presenting the home challenge, Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Ramkumar Ramanathan would need to give their all in a superior field at Tata Open Maharashtra, where Wimbledon finalist Kevin Anderson will be the title-favourite.
A gritty Prajnesh would be keen to pick up from where he left at his breakthrough 2018 season while Ramkumar will eye a strong start after getting a taste of what it takes to reach final of an ATP World Tour event.
A homegrown player has never captured the singles trophy in India’s only ATP event with Somdev Devvarman finishing runner-up in 2009 in Chennai. It is an unrealistic expectation from Prajnesh and Ramkumar to rewrite history but the two players have shown enough fighting ability to pose a serious challenge to top players.
MYNENI ADVANCES
Saketh Myneni qualified for the singles main draw of the Tata Open Maharashtra after nearly throwing away the advantage against Egor Gerasimov of Belarus, here Sunday.
Myneni is now fourth Indian in the draw and will open his campaign against French fifth seed Benoit Paire, who is coming into the season after enduring a mediocre 2018.
Myneni pulled it off in the tiebreaker, winning 6-4 6-7(4) 7-6(4). He let out a scream when Gerasimov hit one wide on the second match point.