Fourth-seeded Kwan Soon-woo stormed into the singles quarter-finals at the third of Tata Open Maharashtra with a hard-fought 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) win against India’s Prajnesh Gunneswaran at Balewadi sports complex here on Thursday.
Despite losing the first set, the India No. 1 put a brilliant show in attempt to comeback which saw the second set going into tie-breaker. However, World No. 88 Soon-woo held his nerves in the tie-breaker to score crucial points and wrapped up the match.
Prajnesh, who entered the South Asia’s only ATP Tour tournament, which is organised by Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) in association with Government of Maharashtra, with a direct entry in the main draw, denied his opponent match points on a couple of occasions. With Prajnesh’s loss in the round of 16, India’s challenge came to an end in the singles. Earlier Sumit Nagal, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Sasikumar Mukund and Arjun Kadhe lost their respective matches in the opening round.
Earlier in other singles last-16 match, Australia’s James Duckworth held his nerves during thrilling three-set 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 over Taro Daniel. Despite losing the first set, the sixth seeded Duckworth made timely comeback to win the hard-fought second set. However, the Australian had continued the momentum to win the decider easily to complete victory.
In doubles category, pair of Romain Arneodo and Andre Begemann caused a major upset in the tournament as they knocked out top-seed pair of Robin Haase and Robert Lindstedt with a thrashing 6-3, 6-3 win to enter the semi-finals. However, third seeded Jonathan Erlich and Andrei Vasilevski also made their way into the last four. Erlich-Vasilevski had fought hard before registering 5-7, 6-1, 10-8 win against Italian pair of Stefano Travaglia and Paolo Lorenzi.
Results
James Duckworth (Aus) bt Taro Daniel (Jpn) 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-3; Kwon Soon-woo (Kor) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran (Ind) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5); Egor Gerasimov (Blr) bt Nikola Milojevic (Srb) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Doubles: Jonathan Erlich (Isr)-Andrei Vasilevski (Blr) bt Stefano Travaglia (Ita)-Paolo Lorenzi (Ita) 5-7, 6-1, 10-8; Romain Arneodo (Mon)-Andre Begemann (Ger) bt Robin Haase (Ned)-Robert Lindstedt (Swe) 6-3, 6-3.
