Prajnesh Gunneswaran missed out on a clash with Roger Federer after losing his second round match at the ATP Mercedes Cup to Argentina’s Guido Pella in Stuttgart on Thursday.
Prajnesh, who qualified into the tournament and stunned world number 23 Denis Shapovalov in the opening round, lost 6-7(4), 4-6 to the world number 75.
The Indian left-hander, playing his maiden ATP World Tour event, saved four of the five break points but could convert none of the two chances he got in the one-hour and 29-minute contest.
“I played ok but not as good as I needed to. He was very solid and got me to make more errors than I should have. I needed to be a bit more clinical in putting away the shorter balls. I did not do that well enough and it made it difficult for me to win,” the 169th-ranked Prajnesh told PTI from Stuttgart.
When asked about the missed chance to play against the 20-time Grand Slam champion, he was not very disappointed.
“It does not matter. If it comes later, it does, if it does not, it does not. I am not too bothered about that. Overall it is a very good experience for me. I understood what I need to do and what I need to improve to be at this stage,” he said.
He picked up 32 ranking points, including 12 from qualifying, and earned €11,210 for his effort.
Ramkumar Ramanathan meanwhile defeated world number 228 Tobias Kamke of Germany 7-6 (1), 6-3 to progress to the quarter-finals of the ATP Challenger in Nottingham.
Jeevan Neduncheziyan and Austin Krajicek also made the semi-finals of the doubles tournament at Nottingham after beating Adrián Menéndez Maceiras and Sergiy Stakhovsky 7-5, 6-4. Divij Sharan and Artem Sitak, seeded fourth, made the semis of the Libema Open with a 7-6 (2) 6-3 win over Romain Arneodo and Gilles Muller.
(With PTI inputs)
