PUNE, February 4, 2020
India No. 1 Prajnesh Gunneswaran stamped his authority at home with a straight sets victory against Germany’s Yannick Maden in his opening round match at the third edition of Tata Open Maharashtra at Mhalunge Balewadi Stadium in Pune on Tuesday.
Gunneswaran held his nerves throughout the match as both the sets went into tie-breakers before the 30-year-old Indian wrapped up the hard-fought contest 7-6(4), 7-6(5) after one hour and 38 minutes. Gunneswaran will take on No. 4 seed Soonwoo Kwon of South Korea in the second round.
That WINNING Moment! 🙌🏼 🇮🇳#TOM2020 #AdvantagePune #ATPTour #TataOpenMaharashtra @PrajneshGP pic.twitter.com/r6gxwgJ1zW
— Tata Open Maharashtra (@MaharashtraOpen) February 4, 2020
In another singles opening round match local boy Arjun Kadhe suffered a straight-set 6-2, 6-4 defeat at the hands of Jiri Vesley. Playing in front of home crowd, Kadhe, who received a wild card entry into the main draw, tried to make a comeback into the match with some good fight in the second set but it was too late as the 26-year-old Czech player secured victory convincingly in one hour and 15 minutes. Vesely will next take on No. 7 seed Salvatore Caruso of Italy.
Australia’s James Duckworth marked his arrival with a hard-fought 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Peter Gojowczyk of Germany. Duckworth, who is making his maiden appearance at South Asia’s only ATP Tour tournament which is organised by Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) in association with Government of Maharashtra, faced a tough challenge in the first set which went into the tie-break. However, sixth seeded Duckworth saw taking charge of the second set and prevailed after one hour and 38 minutes. Up next for the World No. 96 from Sydney will be either recent Burnie International ATP Challenger champion Taro Daniel of Japan or Indian wild card entry Sasikumar Mukund.
Roberto Marcora claimed his first match win on the ATP Tour with a 6-3, 6-2 over Czech veteran Lukas Rosol in a battle between two qualifiers. The 30-year-old Italian won 85 per cent of his first-service points to advance in just under one hour of play. Marcora will play top seed Benoit Paire of France next.
