Maharashtra Open Day 4 Highlights: Paes, Prajnesh crash out, Ramkumar-Raja through to semis

Catch the highlights and updates from Day 04 of the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune. Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Benoit Paire and others will be in action today

Published : Feb 06, 2020 16:05 IST , PUNE

Day 04 of the Tata Open Maharashtra has quite a few Indians, including Leander Paes, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran, in the fray.
Day 04 of the Tata Open Maharashtra has quite a few Indians, including Leander Paes, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran, in the fray.
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Day 04 of the Tata Open Maharashtra has quite a few Indians, including Leander Paes, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran, in the fray.


Day in brief:

It was a day of upsets here in the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune. The only Indian in the fray in the men's singles, Prajnesh Gunneswaran bowed out, losing to Soon Woon Kwon, but not before putting up a spirited resistence. The day also brought heartbreak for Paes and Paire. Top seed Benoit Paire crashed out of the singles draws, losing to Italian qualifier Roberto Marcora. He also lost his doubles match with partner Hoang. Andre Goransson and Christopher Rungkat beat Paire-Hoang 6-3, 6-3 - ending the Frenchman's stint on the court in Pune for the year. Paes, who was playing his last ATP tour tournament here in India, also tamely bowed out, losing to Ramkumar Ramanathan and Purav Raja. The latter duo was phenomenal giving Paes and partner Matthew Ebden no room to wriggle out a point, winning the game 6-2, 6-1.

That's all we have for you from the Maharashtra Open today. Do join us tomorrow for action from the business end of the tournament.


Results so far:

Men's Singles:

James Duckworth beat Taro Daniel 6-7 (7-4), 7-6(8-6), 6-3

Soon Woon Kwon beat Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)

Roberto Marcora beat Benoit Paire 6-4, 6-4

Egor Gerasimov beats Nikola Milojevic 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
 

Men's Doubles quarterfinal:

Romain Arneodo/Andre Begemann beat Robin Haase/ Robert Lindstedt 6-3, 6-3

Jonathan Erlich/ Andrei Vasilevski beat Stefano Travaglia/ Paolo Lorenzi 5-7, 6-1, 10-8

Purav Raja/ Ramkumar Ramanathan beat Matthew Ebden/Leander Paes 6-2, 6-1

Andre Goransson/Christopher Rungkat beat Benoit Paire and Antoine Hoang 6-3, 6-3


As they happened:

There we have it. Paire, Hoang lose to Goransson and Rungkat 3-6, 3-6.

Benoit Paire's campaign here in Pune looks all but done
as he and partner Hoang trail Goransson and Rungkat 3-5 in the second set, after losing the first one 3-6.

That brings the curtains down on Leander's last ATP Tour tournament on home soil. But the night will belong to Ramkumar Ramanathan and Purav Raja. Let's quickly check on the other doubles game, with another champion who has had a rough night so far. Over to Court 1.

Purav Raja/ Ramkumar Ramanathan vs Matthew Ebden/Leander Paes :
It's done, folks. Ramkumar and Purav have combined beautifully to silence Paes/Ebden in a dominant 6-2, 6-1 win.

Will you believe it? Raja-Ram (taking this from broadcaster Devvarman) leads Paes/Ebden 5-1 in the second set. This is after winning the first set 6-2. Ebden and Paes have seemed very patchy, the lack of focus very obvious.  The winner of this match will face Jonathan Erlich/ Andrei Vasilevski in the semifinal.

Paes and Ebden concede the first set rather tamely to Ramkumar Ramanathan and Purav Raja. 6-2 in favour of the latter.  Sensational stuff from the Raja-Ram combo.

All one-way traffic here from Purav and Ram. 5-1 to the duo against Ebden/Paes. Paes is applauding as he should. Classy stuff, especially on the forehand.

Ram and Purav have tried to keep things simple and lead Ebden/Paes 4-1. Just 15 odd minutes into this game and it has been good from the all-Indian pair here in Pune.
 

While Paes and Ebden take on Ram and Purav , Benoit Paire and Antoine Hoang are trailing Andre Goransson and Christopher Rungkat 1-3 in the first set.

The mind games have begun from Leander Paes but Purav and Ramkumar are doing well to read him and not give in to netplay here.

Only the doubles draws remain. Both quarterfinal ties. First one features three Indians. We have Purav Raja/ Ramkumar Ramanathan taking on Matthew Ebden/Leander Paes

Benoit Paire vs Roberto Marcora : Upset! The top seed crashes out in the singles. Marcora beats Paire 6-4, 6-4.

What a comeback here from Roberto Marcora. He takes the first set vs Benoit Paire, the top seed in this tournament, 6-4.

Make that 5-3 to Marcora.

Remarkable comeback from Marcora to lead the first set 3-2. He was 1-2 down to start with.

Comfortable lead here for the top seed as he leads the first set 2-1. Marcora is not to be dismissed though. He has come back a lot smarter in the second set, but Paire is able to force the errors out of him.

Up next: Benoit Paire takes on Roberto Marcora

Meanwhile one can spot a very laidback Benoit Paire, who is due to play next, and Leander Paes chatting away by the sidelines. Anjana caught up with the Frenchman earlier and he seemed to be in good spirits.



Anjana reports: A lot of Koreans in attendance today. I've managed to spot a flag too. Close your eyes though and all you hear is 'Prajnesh'.

Soon Woon Kwon has made the fans happy here in Pune as he wins the match against Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).

The set goes into a tie-breaker, with games tied 6-6.

Prajnesh is fighting. He leads the second set 6-5. Can he seal the set and give himself a chance in this match in the decider?

Prajnesh can do little to match Kwon Soo-Woo and loses the first 3-6. He is resilient though, currently leading the second set, albeit narrowly, 4-3.

After that jump start, Prajnesh seems to have fallen back. Kwon Soon-Woo leads Prajnesh 5-2.

Not the prettiest point to win, but in a battle along the baseline, Prajnesh draws first blood, leading the first set 1-0. These two have faced each other quite a few times, including in the Asian Games, a game that Prajnesh won to take Bronze. Can he replicate the same today?

It's time to have a local boy to cheer
, says the audience at Pune. After a marathon of a game, we now have Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Kwon Soon-Woo heading out for their round of 16 encounter.
 


Nikola Milojevic vs Egor Gerasimov:
Gerasimov prevails to take the game 2-6, 6-3, 6-2

Gerasimov takes the second set 6-3. Equally emphatic set wins here in Court 1. Who will take the decider?

The Serbian has taken an early lead, winning the first set 6-2, but Gerasimov is crawling his way back in the second set and leads Milojevic 4-1.

Meanwhile, we have another result in the men's doubles quarterfinals.



Men's Singles match 01:  WE HAVE A WINNER. Duckworth takes an intensely hard-fought game against Taro Daniel, 6-7, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3.

After an intense tie break, Duckworth takes the second set 7-6 (8-6) . We now move into a decider set.

Game is heading towards the two-hour mark here at Centre Court.

Taro Daniel vs James Duckworth: Daniel and Duckworth are contesting an evenly matched game here. Duckworth struggled to get going but has pegged back remarkably. Daniel gave away three break points and was visibly unhappy with himself. Daniel utimately takes the first set 7-6 (7-4) and leads the second set 6-5.

It's been a long game for the Japanese and Australian, with each matching the other every step of the way. Who do you have your money on?
 


Where to watch

Matches from the Tata Open Maharashtra can be watched on the Star Sports Network. You can also stream the matches LIVE on the go on Hotstar.

Day 03 recap:

In singles, Prajnesh Gunneswaran is the lone Indian left. He will face fourth seed Kwon Soon Woo of South Korea in the round of 16 tomorrow.

The French prevailed in the Mixed Doubles fixture. Benoit Paire and Antoine Hoang made a stunning comeback to win the super tiebreaker 10-7 and earn their spot in the quarters. Paire and Hoang came back from losing the opening set to bag the second one and dished out a superb display in the super tiebreaker to secure the win. So with the elimination of the team of Rohan Bopanna and Arjun Kadhe, both defending champions Divij Sharan (day before with Artem Sitak) and Bopanna are out of the 2020 Maharashtra Open.

That leaves Leander Paes, with his Australian partner Matthew Ebden, and the pair of Purav Raja and Ramkumar Ramanathan as the only remaining Indian interest in doubles. These two teams will actually square off against each other in the quarterfinals, which means at least one Indian will make the semis.

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