Prajnesh Gunneswaran progresses to the Singles second round in Bengaluru Open 2022

Indian tennis player Prajnesh Gunneswaran progressed to the second round while Ramkumar Ramanathan and Arjun Khade made early exits from the Bengaluru Open 2022 men’s singles event on Tuesday.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran, the world No. 235, beat Mathias Bourgue of France 7(7)-6(4), 6-2 in his first-round match. He will face Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic, the top seed, in the round of 16.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran won the Bengaluru Open title in 2018 and is the only Indian who made it to the second round of the ATP Challenger tournament this year.

Ramkumar Ramanathan, another top Indian in the fray, went down to Australia’s Max Purcell 6-3, 0-6, 5-7. 

Ramkumar Ramanathan took the first set convincingly but Max Purcell blanked Ramkumar Ramanathan in the second set and stormed back into the match.

The third set was evenly contested by both players. At 5-5, Max Purcell stepped up to take the next two games and move into the next round.

Arjun Khade, meanwhile, lost to the fifth-seeded Altug Celikbilek of Turkey 6-1, 6-2.

India’s Rishi Reddy lost 6-1, 6-3 to France’s Enzo Couacaud while S D Prajwal Dev was on the wrong end of a 6-2, 6-2 scoreline against Bulgaria’s Dimitar Kuzmanov.

Saketh Myneni had bowed out from the opening round of the singles main draw on Monday.

In doubles, Yuki Bhambri and Divij Sharan also progressed after getting a walkover. Their opponents from Turkey, Altug Celikbilek and Cem Ilkel, withdrew midway through the match.

Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan will be up against Toshihide Matsui and Markos Kalovelonis in their doubles opener tomorrow.

Purav Raja and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan will also be seen in action against Borna Gojo and Dimitar Kuzmanov on Wednesday.