“I was nervous, but I approached it as close [as] I would a regular match. I thought I wouldn’t handle the pressure as well as I did. I went in and I thought [it was] OK. I was surprised.”
Twenty-seven year-old Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who played his first-ever Davis Cup tie for India, couldn’t have summed up his debut in the tournament any better than this. Ramkumar Ramanathan did put India up on the scoreboard with a four-set win over Temur Ismailov in the opening rubber.
Yet, it was Gunneswaran’s equally gritty 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Sanjar Fayziev that completely went on to turn the tie in favour of the hosts, giving them a commanding 2-0 lead with the doubles rubber to follow on Saturday.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran’s 2017 timeline: From missing Australian Open wild card berth, to successful Davis Cup initiation
Back in January, Gunneswaran had failed to get the Australian Open wild card by a whisker, losing the Asia/Pacific Wildcard Play-off to Denis Istomin. Incidentally, in Istomin’s absence in the Uzbek squad, it had had been Fayziev, who ranked 376th in the world, was to lead the visitors’ lineup.
The 22-year-old matched Gunneswaran toe-to-toe in the first set, before the 287th ranked Indian secured the first break of the rubber before going on to consolidate the break, by serving out the set 7-5 in 36 minutes. It wasn’t, however, until the second set as Fayziev levelled the rubber at one set-all that Gunneswaran’s mettle came out in the rubber.
The 28-minute long second set just the one break of serve, on Gunneswaran’s serve. And, try as the Indian did, Fayziev prevented him from making any inroads back at his serve. Negating the idea that him losing his way in the second set was because of pressure in his post-match media conference, Gunneswaran, however noted, “I think I didn’t execute well in that game (set). I made a couple of first serve errors on my forehand.”
Giving credit to his opponent, he also went on to mention, “There were a couple of first serves that I missed. He [also] put in a few balls then. I lost the serve quickly.”
The way in the tie ahead
Gunneswaran’s appreciative tones towards Fayziev didn’t, however, waylay him, especially in the third set that severely oscillated between the two players. Gunneswaran found himself trailing as early as in his second service game of the set, before overcoming the deficit in the sixth game. Capitalising further on the sudden flaring up of Fayziev’s arrhythmia in the middle of the third set, Gunneswaran gave India a two-sets-to-one lead in the tie.
The final decisive push towards victory then came in the seventh game of the fourth set, as Fayziev — overwhelmed by the proceedings — gave Gunneswaran a break to go up 4-3 in a set. Serving for the match in the 10th game, there were no errors from his racquet as he finished off, what looked like a lengthy match, in what was definitely a 50-minute shorter encounter as compared to the first rubber.
Post-match, evaluating his overall performance in the rubber, Gunneswaran said, “I used the momentum that I got in the beginning [of the rubber]. I was serving well, I was hitting my forehands well. It [the rubber] went well.”
It was a concise recapping of what transpired in the course of the two hour 24-minute rubber. But, given all the drawn out excitement surrounding the rubbers on the day, it’s fitting that Gunneswaran’s on-field conciseness is reciprocated in his off-field sentiments about his win.
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