Sasi surges, Prajnesh bites dust
New Delhi, Oct. 30: Sasi Kumar Mukund got the better of Chinese wonderkid Yibing Wu but in- form Prajnesh Gunneswaran suffered a shock first round defeat at the ATP Challenger tournament in Shenzen, China.
The 21- year- old Sasi, who qualified for the main draw and has made good progress on the Pro circuit, defeated Wu 7- 6 ( 4), 6- 2 in one hour and 20 minutes to move to the second round of the $ 75,000 hard court event on Monday. Wu had won the junior US Open last year and also became junior world number one after his Grand Slam win.
Sasi will next face Canadian eighth seed Filip Peliwo.
Fourth seed Prajnesh, who played intense tennis in the past two weeks, lost 3- 6, 4- 6 to Alejandro Davidovick Fokina from Spain.
“Yes I was a bit tired after a hectic two weeks,” he said.
In the battle the Indians, third seed Ramkumar Ramanathan fought off qualifier Sumit Nagal 3- 6, 6- 4, 7- 6( 2) in his opening round. Ramkumar is now up against Egypt’s Mohamed Safwat.
It was a bad day for Saketh Myneni as he had to concede his first round contest against Frenchman Johan Tatlot due to foot blisters.
“I have blood blisters on the foot and had to get it drained today. I could not walk in the morning. It needs a couple of days to heal,” said Myneni.
In the doubles event, Arjun Kadhe and Sanchai Ratiwatana moved to the quarterfinals. — PTI of