Prajnesh Gunneswaran will face Nikoloz Basilashvili in the second round at Indian Wells. (Source: ATP Tour/Twitter)A day after qualifying for his maiden ATP Masters 1000 event, Prajnesh Gunneswaran clinched his first win at the level. The Indian picked up a straight sets 7-6, 6-4 win over Benoit Paire to move into the second round of the men’s singles draw. In the second he will face 17th seeded Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili.
This is the second time Gunneswaran has beaten a top-100 ranked player having beaten Denis Shapovalov in Stuttgart last year. Also in 2018, Prajnesh had played his first ATP World tour level main draw match.
In a match that lasted just under an hour and a half, Prajnesh broke Paire’s serve four times with little to separate the two in the end. It was Prajnesh, however, who won the points in critical junctures to progress in the tournament. He held his serve in pressure situations as well with five breaks saved of eight on offer.
Coming into it, the difference between Prajnesh and Paire was big – in terms of experience – but the Indian didn’t let it show. While Paire has played multiple grand slam events and ventured so far as the fourth round of Wimbledon and US Open, Prajnesh had played his first grand slam main draw match in January.
First ever Masters 1000 main draw match ✅
First ever Masters 1000 win ✅A debut to remember for Prajnesh
Gunneswaran, beating Benoit Paire 7-6(5) 6-4#BNPPO19 pic.twitter.com/YbA5Sdyzxd— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) 8 March 2019
In the first set, Prajnesh was first to be broken, in the fifth game, but clawed back to level things up by breaking the Frenchman in the eighth game. Duo exchanged another set of breaks in the next two games to force a tiebreak.
First set tiebreaker witnessed another flurry of minibreaks with Prajnesh leading 3-0. Paire came back immediately to brings things on serve at 3-2. Things remained on serve until Gunneswaran bagged a crucial minibreak and then served out the set.
In the second set, Paire was first to be broken but Gunneswaran couldn’t consolidate this break. In the ninth game, Paire was broken once again on second opportunity that came the Indian’s way.
Listen up! 🔊@PrajneshGP has a message for you 👇#BNPPO19 pic.twitter.com/9GezmLGZBu
— ATP Tour (@ATP_Tour) 8 March 2019
Serving for the match, Gunneswaran had little trouble as he closed things out on the first time of asking. After the win he said, “Thank you for the support at Indian Wells. I’m really happy to have done this well and get far in the tournament. I hope you guys come out and support me. Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday,” in a video posted by the ATP.
