Australian Open 2022: Prajnesh Gunneswaran exits tournament qualifiers after second round defeat

Up
against
a
rival,
who
served
big
and
packed
a
lot
of
power
in
his
strokes
but
placed
seven
places
below
him
at
228,
Prajnesh
lost
2-6
6-7(8)
in
one
hour
and
26
minutes.

With
Prajnesh
losing
the
battle
of
the
left-handers,
Yuki
Bhambri
is
now
the
only
Indian
surviving
in
the
Qualifiers.
Ramkumar
Ramanathan
and
Ankita
Raina
have
already
exited
the
competition.

Down
2-6
2-4,
Prajnesh
managed
to
stretch
it
to
a
tie-breaker
but
squandered
many
a
set
point
to
lose
the
match.

Prajnesh
handed
the
German
two
break
chances
in
the
fourth
game
of
the
match
when
he
made
a
volley
error
after
setting
up
the
point
and
followed
that
up
with
wide
forehand.

The
Indian
saved
the
first
chance
with
a
big
serve
while
Marterer’s
backhand
slice
landed
just
outside
the
baseline
on
the
second.

An
engrossing
rally,
that
put
Prajnesh’s
backhand
to
test
against
the
German’s
forehand,
ensued
in
the
sixth
game.

A
smart
backhand
slice
by
Marterer,
after
no
less
than
a
20-shot
exchange
ended
the
rally
as
Prajnesh
hit
the
pick-up
out,
looking
for
a
cross
court
forehand
winner.

Prajnesh’s
strokes
began
to
lose
power
and
precision
after
losing
that
energy-sapping
rally
and
the
German
began
to
dictate
terms.

Marterer
hit
a
forehand
winner
to
earn
two
break
chances
and
converted
the
second
for
a
4-2
lead
when
Prajnesh
made
a
forehand
error.

The
German
came
out
serving
big
in
the
next
game
to
consolidate
his
lead
but
Prajnesh
seemed
to
have
lost
energy
as
unforced
errors
flew
from
his
racquet
as
he
surrendered
the
opening
set.

Early
in
the
second
set,
Prajnesh
went
from
40-0
to
deuce
and
was
down
a
breakpoint
when
he
sent
another
shot
long.

Marterer
could
not
covert
that
but
created
one
more
chance
when
he
had
Parjnesh
scurried
to
the
net
from
the
baseline
to
miss
the
ball.
Already
a
break-up,
Marterer
held
his
own
for
a
4-1
lead.

A
glimmer
of
hope
came
when
the
German
allowed
Prajnesh
an
opening
by
dropping
his
serve
in
the
seventh
game
as
it
was
back
on
serve.

Yuki
Bhambri
has
a
task
cut
out
as
he
faces
world
number
130
Tomas
Machac
from
Czech
Republic.
Yuki
is
ranked
outside
top-1000
and
has
entered
the
event,
using
his
Protected
Ranking
(127).