Indian No 1 Prajnesh Gunneswaran started his 2020 season with a win while Ramkumar Ramanathan faltered at the opening hurdle at the season-opening ATP Challenger in Bendigo, Australia on Monday.
Prajnesh, the current world No 122 beat Australian wildcard entrant Jason Kubler 7-5, 6-3 in an hour and 28 minutes. The left-hander, who was hampered by a wrist injury in his final few tournaments of 2019, looked in command with 10 aces and a first serve percentage of 71. He lost his serve twice but broke four times to get the win.
He will next face 13th seed Taro Daniel of Japan.
However, Ramkumar didn’t have a positive start to his season after losing a three-setter to Emil Ruusuvuori. The Indian won the first set but the rising star on the Challenger Circuit fought back to take the match 6-3, 2-6, 3-6 in an hour and 27 minutes.
Ramkumar was let down by his first serve (54%) even though won 77% of first-serve points. The Indian converted just one break point while lost serve three times.
Earlier, the raging bushfires in Australia had forced the Canberra International tennis tournaments to be relocated to Bendigo in Victoria state, some 600 kilometres (around 375 miles) away.
India’s WTA No 1 Ankita Raina will begin her season at the International Tennis Federation even at the same venue on Tuesday.