French Open miss doesn’t bother Prajnesh
in June this year, Prajnesh Gunneswaran was the first lucky loser to be offered a main draw berth at the French Open after injured Australian Nick Kyrgios’ late pull-out. But by then, the Indian had already flown to Italy for an ATP Challenger and next in line Marco Trungelliti of Argentina drove 10 hours from Barcelona to Paris, alongside his mother and grandmother, to sign in just before midnight.
Since then, fate has been kinder to the Indian, who won his maiden ATP Challengers in China this year. His ranking steadily rose to 144 in the world making him the third Indian after Yuki Bhambri and Ramkumar Ramanathan to be in top 150 in the world.
His quarter-final against Sasi Kumar Mukund at the Bengaluru Open ATP Challengers on Thursday lasted just two minutes with his opponent retiring in the first game itself while being down 0-40, putting Gunneswaran into the semis without breaking a sweat.
“I am over Roland Garros. I have done well after that and this year overall. I am just looking to finish the year having set no goals for myself,” Gunneswaran said.
With the ATP ranking system set to get a major overhaul, which will see ITF Futures without any ATP points on offer, Gunneswaran said he will be unaffected by it as he will look for a higher level of tournaments.
Results: P Gunneswaran (IND) bt SK Mukund (IND) 0-0 (retd); S Myneni (IND) bt S Nagal (IND) 6-4, 6-4; A Nedovyesov (KAZ) bt F Ferreira Silva (POR) 6-4, 6-2.
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