Pune Challenger: Prajnesh ends runners-up in singles, Ramkumar-Vijay win doubles title

Prajnesh Gunneswaran finished second best in the singles final while Ramkumar Ramanathan and Vijay Sundar Prashanth won the doubles title at KPIT-MSLTA Challenger.

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Pune Challenger: Prajnesh ends runners-up in singles, Ramkumar-Vijay win doubles title
Prajnesh Gunneswaran closed in on top 100 in ATP rankings after finishing second at Pune Challenger. (KPIT Challenger Photo)

In Short

  • Prajnesh Gunneswaran lost 2-6, 5-7 to Sweden's Elias Ymer
  • Prajnesh said he needs to get stronger and quicker for such matches
  • Ramkumar Ramanathan-Vijay Sundar Prashanth won the doubles title

Prajnesh Gunneswaran's bid to win back-to-back Challenger titles was foiled by Elias Ymer as the Swede won the KPIT-MSLTA Challenger, beating the Indian in straight sets in the final on Saturday.

This was the second runner-up finish for the 29-year-old after the 2016 edition of the tournament. With 48 points in his tally, Prajnesh, who is in the form of his life, will now move to his career-best singles rank of 104.

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Playing his second final after winning the Bengaluru open last week, Prajnesh lost 2-6, 5-7 to the third seeded Swede, who added craft to power to deny the Indian his third title of the season. Ymer, who had a 5-0 record coming into this final, maintained the clean state with a commanding win.

He served aces, a total of 12, at crucial points, at many times when it was 30-30 or 40-30. It made a huge difference to the outcome of the game as he saved all four break points in the one-hour-27-minute match.

Long rallies were order of the day and immense strength and stamina was required to prevail. Nevertheless, Prajnesh has underlined his growth by beating players to whom he had lost in the past on way to the two finals.

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"May be I need to get stronger to last in such long rallies but I could have played better. I need to get quicker and hit heavy so that I can take away two steps away from him so that he does not return everything," said Prajnesh after the match.

"He deserved to win, he played better than me throughout. I had my chance but he made extra balls. I was 9-0 (matches) coming into this match and is definitely tired now," he said.

Prajnesh will now try to win a main draw entry into the Australian Open by winning the Asia-Pacific play-off in Zhuhai.

RAMKUMAR-VIJAY WIN DOUBLES TITLE

Ramkumar Ramanathan put up a brilliant performance with Vijay Sundar Prashanth to win Pune Challengers doubles title. (@KPITChallenger Photo)

Meanwhile, Ramkumar Ramanathan stood out with individual brilliance to capture his maiden doubles title on the ATP Challenger circuit, clinching the KPIT-MSLTA doubles trophy with compatriot Vijay Sundar Prashanth earlier in the day.

A fired-up Ramkumar played solid from the baseline and brought in a lot of energy as the unseeded Indian pair edged past the third seeded Taipei pair of Tsung-Hua Yang and Cheng-Peng Hsieh 7-6(3), 6-7(5), 10-7 in a pulsating final.

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Ramkumar literally carried the match on his shoulders with his partner slightly off colour today.

Ramkumar had three runner-up finishes before on the Challenger circuit with different partners.

For Vijay, it is his second title, having won his first trophy with compatriot Saketh Myneni last year in October at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Ramkumar and Vijay had lost to the same Taipei pair in the opening round of the Kaohsiung Challenger in September this year.

It is the third time that an Indian pair has won the doubles title in five editions at the Pune Challenger.

(With PTI inputs)