PUNE: It was the softest of kills. Soonwoo Kwon, seeded fourth, managed to finish off the point on the third volley to dash the hopes of the last standing Indian, Prajnesh Gunneswaran, on Thursday. South Korea’s Kwon withstood a barrage of forehands from the left-handed Gunneswaran before scoring a 6-3, 7-6 (5) win in the second round of the Tata Open Maharashtra. Thus ended the Indian challenge, which had begun so optimistically with five making the main draw of an ATP tour event for the first time.
Even as Sumit Nagal, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Arjun Kadhe and Sasikumar Mukund were ousted in the first round, Gunneswaran, the top-ranked Indian, carried home hopes to the second round. Much was expected of the 29-year-old, who had a favourable 3-1 record over his opponent. But his all-out aggressive game came at a price — Gunneswaran hit 21 winners but made 47 errors on the day, making it that much easier for his opponent during the one-hour 44-minute contest.
“Playing against an opponent who plays this fast, and flat, I need to learn to hold the baseline better,” said Gunneswaran. “I played better in the second set. The tie-breaker was close; he played it slightly better than me. To sum it up, in the moments that mattered, the points where I could change the match, I didn’t play well enough.”
The Indian had started the match with a break of serve, but couldn’t consolidate. The error he rues the most is the smash at 30-40, 2-3 down. Gunneswaran let the ball bounce, rather than take it on the full, second-guessed himself and ended up dumping it into the net. That gave Kwon the second break and he held on to the lead to win the set 6-4.
In the second set, the Indian saved all six breakpoints, including four in the ninth game to stay 5-4 on serve. He tried to dictate the points, creating angles with his forceful forehand, but Kwon hared around the baseline retrieving many of those. Gunneswaran also saved a match point at 6-4. But serving for the match at 6-5, Kwon took the lead and made his way to the net. It took him three volleys, including an incredible stretched backhand, but Kwon finally put his opponent away.
Top seed out Unseeded Italian Roberto Marcora beat top-seed Benoit Paire of France 6-4, 6-4 in the pre-quarters.
Rajpal to continue as Davis Cup captain
Rohit Rajpal will continue as India’s non-playing Davis Cup captain while Leander Paes too has retained his place in the six-member squad picked for the tie against Croatia next month. India are scheduled to travel to Croatia for their next tie on March 6 & 7. Squad: Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Sumit Nagal, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Rohan Bopanna, Divij Sharan and Leander Paes. Coach: Zeeshan Ali.