Kunming Open: Prajnesh Gunneswaran storms into semifinals

India's No. 1 player, Prajnesh Gunneswaran beat Nikola Milojevic 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinal and will meet Poland's Kamil Majchrzak for a spot in the final of the Kunming Open.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran won his first ATP challenger title at the Anning Challenger last year, beating Egyptian Mohamed Safwat in the final.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran inched closer to defending his Anning Challenger title as he notched up a 7-5, 6-3 win over Nikola Milojevic in the quarterfinal on Friday.

The top-ranked Indian will next face Poland's Kamil Majchrzak for a spot in the final. The Polish player beat India's Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-1, 7-6 as the other Indian bowed out from the tournament.

Both players held serve over the first 10 games, with Prajnesh failing to capitalise on three breakpoint opportunities. However, he managed to get the job done in the 11th game as he broke Milojevic and held serve to pocket the first set.

Read: Prajnesh must avoid the trap of playing safe, says Zeeshan Ali

The second seeded Indian carried the momentum into the second set and raced to a 4-2 lead in quick time, having broken Milojevic in the first and fifth games.

His Serbian opponent showed little signs of a comeback and Prajnesh managed to break again in the ninth game to win the set 6-3 and book his spot in the semifinal.

Prajnesh won his first ATP challenger title at the Anning Challenger last year, beating Egyptian Mohamed Safwat in the final. He has since gone on to crack the top-100 in the ATP rankings and with a ranking of 80, he is currently India's no. 1 player.