PUNE: Indian Tennis players struggled in the second day’s play at the 2020 edition of Maharashtra Open, as the foreigners continued to oust the hosts from the first round of the ATP Tour event.
India’s number one in men’s singles, Prajnesh Gunneswaran proved his mettle and was the only top-seeded Indian player to proceed to round 2 by registering a straight-set 7-6, 7-6 victory over Germany’s Yannick Maden in his first-round match at the Mhalunge Balewadi Stadium.
Local tennis sensation Arjun Kadhe failed to qualify for the second round after being defeated 6-2, 604 by the Czech Jiri Vesley despite having the edge of playing before the home crowd. Unseeded Kadhe had entered the tournament on a wild card.
An upset result in the doubles match surprised everyone as wild-card entrants Leander Paes & Matthew Ebden defeated the 2nd seeded Divij Sharan & Artem Sitak 6-2, 7-6 in the Doubles Round of 16.
In other singles matches, Australia’s James Duckworth made his presence felt by defeating Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk 7-6, 6-4 in his first appearance in a South Asian ATP tour.
Defending Champion Rohan Bopanna and Sumit Nagal will be the main attraction of Day 3 as the Indian duo takes on French pair Benoit Paire and Antonie Hoang in their first-round match tomorrow. Nagal will be looking to move ahead in the double’s competition after yesterday’s ouster from singles by Italy’s Salvatore Caruso.
Maharashtra Open 2020 Results
- Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND) bt Yannick Maden (GER) 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5)
- Jiri Vesley (CZE) bt Arjun Kadhe (IND) 6-2, 6-4
- James Duckworth (AUS) bt Peter Gojowczyk (GER) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4
- Roberto Marcora (ITA) bt Lukas Rosol (CZE) 6-3, 6-2
- Egor Gerasimov (BLR) bt Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) 6-2, 6-3
- Ilya Ivashka (BLR) bt Evgeny Donskoy (RUS) 6-3, 6-2.
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