Tata Open 2020: Kwan Soon-woo Knocks Out India's Prajnesh Gunneswaran To Storm Into Quarterfinals

Fourth Seed Kwan Soon-woo knocked Out India's top ranked singles player Prajnesh Gunneswaran to storm into men's singles quarterfinals at the tournament

New Delhi: Fourth-seeded Kwan Soon-woo from South Korea stormed into the singles quarter-finals at the third edition of Tata Open Maharashtra with a two set victory over India’s Prajnesh Gunneswaran at Mhalunge Balewadi Stadium on Thursday. The Korean secured a last eight berth by beating his Indian opponent with scoreline reading - 6-3 , 7-6 (7-5 ). Despite losing the first set, India's number one player Prajnesh played brilliantly and stretched his opponent to a tie break in the second set. However, World No. 88 Soon-woo held his nerves in the tie-breaker to score crucial points and win the encounter. Prajnesh, who entered the South Asia’s only ATP Tour tournament, denied his opponent match points on a couple of occasions. With Prajnesh’s loss in the round of 16, India’s challenge came to an end in the singles. Earlier Sumit Nagal, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Sasikumar Mukund and Arjun Kadhe couldn't cross the first round hurdle. In other singles last-16 match, Australia’s James Duckworth defeated Taro Daniel in a thrilling three-setter with the scoreline - 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-3. Despite losing the first set, the sixth seeded Duckworth made a timely comeback to win the tightly-contested second set. However, the Australian continued the momentum to win the decider easily to complete a hard-fouhgt victory. In the men's doubles category, the Polish-German pair of Romain Arneodo and Andre Begemann caused a major upset in the tournament as they knocked out top-seed Dutch-Swedish pair of Robin Haase and Robert Lindstedt with a thrashing 6-3, 6-3 win to enter the semi-finals. However, third seeded Jonathan Erlich and Andrei Vasilevski also made their way into the last four. Erlich-Vasilevski had fought hard before registering 5-7, 6-1, 10-8 win against Italian pair of Stefano Travaglia and Paolo Lorenzi. Results: Singles: James Duckworth (AUS) bt Taro Daniel (JPN) 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-3; Kwon Soon-woo (KOR) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5); Egor Gerasimov (BLR) bt Nikola Milojevic (SRB) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. Doubles: Jonathan Erlich (ISR)-Andrei Vasilevski (BLR) bt Stefano Travaglia (ITA)-Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) 5-7, 6-1, 10-8; Romain Arneodo (MON)-Andre Begemann (GER) bt Robin Haase (NED)-Robert Lindstedt (SWE) 6-3, 6-3.