Prajnesh Gunneswaran reeled off seven games in a row before his opponent Tung-Lin Wu retired in the decider as the Indian tennis player entered the quarterfinals of the Orlando ATP Challenger on Wednesday night.
The fourth seed Prajnesh was leading 5-7, 7-5, 2-0 when Wu retired from the second-round contest that had already spanned two hours 30 minutes.
Prajnesh was trailing 5-7 2-5 at one stage and the Taipei player was serving for the match but the Indian kept his nerves and forced a decider in the hard court tournament by winning the next seven games.
However, Ramkumar Ramanathan made a first round exit after losing 3-6, 4-6 to American lucky loser Nick Chappell. It was his second consecutive first-round defeat after his runner-up finish at the Eckental Challenger.
Prajnesh, ranked 137, had reached the final of the Cary Challenger last week and has carried his good form into this event. In his first match, he beat Sadio Doumba 6-3, 7-5.
It was third meeting between the two players. Prajnesh had beaten Wu at the Jinan Challenger event last year but gave him a walkover in Liuzhou.
He will now face Kazakhstan’s sixth seed Dmitry Popko, ranked 172.
At the ITF event in Egypt, Siddhant Banthia rallied to beat beat the third seed Bogdan Bobrov of Russia 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-3 while fourth seed Rutuja Bhosale was beaten 7-6(4), 7-6(3) by qualifier Anna Brogan in the first round.
With PTI Inputs
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