Australian Open 2021 qualifiers: Prajnesh Gunneswaran vs Constant Lestienne preview, head-to-head & prediction

Match details

Fixture: Prajnesh Gunneswaran vs Constant Lestienne

Date: 12 January 2021

Tournament: Australian Open 2021 qualifiers

Round: Second round

Venue: Doha, Qatar

Category: Grand Slam

Surface: Outdoor Hardcourt

Prajnesh Gunneswaran vs Constant Lestienne preview

Prajnesh Gunneswaran withstood a spirited effort from Brayden Schnur on Monday to make his way into the second round of the 2021 Australian Open qualifiers.

The 12th seed in the draw, Gunneswaran played an inconsistent match but managed to hold his nerve during the key moments in the last set. He will to tighten his game ahead of his next match, which is against a seasoned campaigner in the form of Constant Lestienne.

The 28-year-old Lestienne has been around for a long time, but largely competes on the ITF and Challenger circuits. He is yet to make the main draw of a Grand Slam, and would be fancying his chances of coming through one of the easier sections of the draw.

Having started off as a claycourt specialist, Lestienne is finally at a stage where he is doing well on hardcourt as well. But against a confident-looking Gunneswaran, the Frenchman will have to channel all of his defensive prowess.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran vs Constant Lestienne head-to-head

Prajnesh Gunneswaran will need to work on his consistency if he wishes to advance further in the qualifiers

This will be the first career meeting between Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Constant Lestienne, so their current head-to-head stands at a 0-0 deadlock.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran vs Constant Lestienne prediction

Prajnesh Gunneswaran enters this contest as a favorite on paper, but his hit-or-miss performance in the opening round failed to inspire much confidence.

That sort of patchy display has been a problem for the big-hitting Indian since quite a while. There are periods in almost all Gunneswaran matches when he absolutely dominates the proceedings, but the purple patches are often followed by a slew of errors that give away all the momentum.

Consistency will be key for the Indian, because there's only so many three-setters that he can hope to come through. That said, the relative lack of weapons in Lestienne's arsenal might make things a little easier for Gunneswaran.

Predictipn: Prajnesh Gunneswaran to win in two tight sets.