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As we saw in the preview of the Pune Challenger quarterfinals, this has been a sensational year for Prajnesh Gunneswaran. He has gone up 150 places in the ATP Rankings since April and will rise more when next week's rankings come out.
The turning point for the 29-year-old came in Anning, China at the Kunming Open. He won his first ever Challenger title and that triggered a climb in the rankings by more than 80 places. Still placed at 175, he had a lot of work to do to compete at a higher level. Prajnesh failed in his attempt to qualify for the French Open after the title victory. He eventually did qualify as a lucky loser, but wasn't so lucky as he had already proceeded to participate in a Challenger by the time he got the call. He didn't taste success there either, exiting in the first round.
The Chennaiite brushed off the disappointment and qualified for the Stuttgart Open right after. He pulled off a stunning upset in the very first round when he defeated the 6th seed Denis Shapovalov. Although he lost in the next round, it was a positive performance as he got his first top-50 win. The Ningbo Challenger was where Gunneswaran proved he was not a one-title wonder, finishing as the runner up to Fabbiano. Seeded 7th, he destroyed 5th seed Kecmanovic in the semi-finals there. In the very next tournament at Lizhou, he avenged the final loss by beating Thomas Fabbiano in the quarters.
Prajnesh was knocked out in the first round at Shenzen before playing the Bengaluru Open. He breezed through the entire tournament and picked up his second Challenger title, first at home. This was the kind of form he was in coming into the Pune Challenger this week. It was evident throughout the week leading up to today's final, where the 4th seed progressed to the semis with very little difficulty.
In the semi-finals he faced Radu Albot, his conqueror at the Lizhou Challenger semis. The Moldovian's quality shone through yesterday's match as well. The Indian's serves were decimated as he gave away 3 breaks to lose the first set.
He put that behind and concentrated on holding his first service game in the second. That proved crucial as he broke Albot in the 3rd game and went on to clinch the set 6-4. Prajnesh did the same in the decider, breaking to go 2-1 up. Serving at 4-3, he was under pressure when he trailed 15-40 but rallied back to pocket the game. After a quick Albot service game, he served the match out from 30-30.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran's main improvements this year have been his service and the placement of the forehand shots. He has plenty of power and has often been running around to his forehand with great effect in the past few months. The inside-out forehand is a new addition to his repertoire of strokes and has been giving good results. Prajnesh has also improved his winner-to-unforced error ratio, but he'll know that he needs to work on it much more to realize his true potential.
Today, in the Pune Challenger final, the India No.1 faces his conqueror from the French Open qualifiers, Elias Ymer. He has made good strides forward in his game since then and that's why he stands a good chance to exact revenge. However, for Prajnesh Gunneswaran, this is above petty revenge, it's about having a chance to end the year among the Top 100.
