Paes-Ramkumar knocked out of ATP Challenger

Pune, Prajnesh Gunneswaran ended compatriot Saketh Myneni’s season with a three-set win that earned him his maiden semifinal appearance at an ATP Challenger event here today.
In a big shock, Leander Paes and Ramkumar Ramanathan bowed out of the tournament. The second seeds were knocked out 6-2 3-6 4-10 by Luca Mragaroli and Hugo Nys.
Paes was broken in the eighth game of the second set as Ramkumar committed two unforced errors. The defeat ended Paes’ 2016 season. “That break changed the mentality. That made us defensive. Instead of punching the volleys and returns we started playing defensive which should not happen,” Paes said. “But we need to keep the chin up.”
Third seed Myneni, hampered by his troubling right shoulder, could never serve the way he usually does as the left-handed Prajnesh registered a 6-7(5) 6-2 6-0 win in the quarterfinals of the $50,000 event.
Prajnesh, ranked 346, is up against second seed and world No. 152 Duckhee Lee of Korea, who ousted Kazakhstan’s Dmitry Popko 6-3 6-4 in another quarterfinal.
Playing a full season after spending five years away from the courts due to recurring stress fractures in his knees, Prajnesh hit powerful forehand shots.
At one point, Myneni used a pain-killing spray. After that break, Prajnesh won nine of the 10 games to close out the match and is now the only Indian surviving in the singles draw.
Myneni, who is assured of a place in the Australian Open qualifiers, has played his last match of the season.
Meanwhile, the other semifinal will be between Frenchman Sadio Doumbia and Serbian Nikola Milojevic. Doumbia knocked out top seed Evgeny Donskoy 3-6 6-4 6-4, while Milojevic fought past fourth seed Spaniard Adrian Menendez-Maceiras 6-4 7-6(3).
In the doubles event, the top-seeded Indian pair of Purav Raja and Divij Sharan stormed into the semifinals with a 7-6(0) 6-4 win over Popko and Marat Deviatiarov.