Prajnesh Gunneswaran bows out of Bendigo Challenger

The Indian loses to Japan’s Taro Daniel in straight sets in the second round.

File Photo: Prajnesh Gunneswaran converted one of the six break points he created and saved six of the eight he faced in the contest.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran fought hard before going down against Japan’s Taro Daniel in the second round of the Bendigo Challenger on Tuesday. Prajnesh lost 4-6, 6-7(4).

Prajnesh converted just one of the six break chances he created and saved six of the eight break points he faced in the one-hour-30-minute contest.

'Close match'

“It was a close match but I had a lot of chances but I could not convert. I made a lot of errors. I was aggressive and tried to attack and that was the positive from today’s match,” Prajnesh told PTI . “In the first set I had chances in the beginning. He was tentative because it was his first match of the season. He was pushing the second serves a bit but I did not go after that. I could have changed the tempo of the match, had I been a break up early, than being on serve and losing at 4-5.”

Daniel is ranked 122, 16 spots above Prajnesh.

Further explaining the reasons for not doing as well as he could have, Prajnesh said he couldn’t unleash his favourite shot since he hadn’t completely recovered from his wrist injury.

“In the second set, I came back from a break down. I need my forehand to back in its original shape. I was playing [a] little flat and made a lot of mistakes because of that. I have to work on this. I still have some issues so I can’t play with the kind of spin I do,” said Prajnesh, who relies a lot on top spin.