India’s No. 1 Gunneswaran Off To Good Start In Pune

Prajnesh Gunneswaran picked the ideal setting for his first tour-level win of 2020 on Tuesday. India’s top-ranked singles player beat Germany’s Yannick Maden 7-6(4), 7-6(5) at India’s ATP Tour event, the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune.

Gunneswaran reached the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells last year and will look to surpass his career-high of No. 75 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, which he achieved in April, this season. The 30-year-old left-hander, currently No. 122, will next face fourth seed Soonwoo Kwon of South Korea.

Italian Roberto Marcora won a battle of qualifiers to book a second-round meeting with top seed Benoit Paire of France. Marcora didn’t face a break point and beat Czech Lukas Rosol 6-3, 6-2.

The two seeds in action also were victorious. Sixth seed James Duckworth of Australia beat 2017 Moselle Open champion Peter Gojowczyk 7-6(5), 6-4. The Aussie will next meet the winner of Indian wild card Sasikumar Mukund and Japan’s Taro Daniel.

Eighth seed Egor Gerasimov of Belarus beat Paolo Lorenzi of Italy 6-2, 6-3. Gerasimov made the second round of the Australian Open, falling to eventual semi-finalist Alexander Zverev of Germany.

Gerasimov will next play Serbian qualifier Nikola Milojevic, a 7-6(5), 6-4 winner against France’s Antoine Hoang.