Chennai Open 2024: SD Prajwal Dev through to the main draw, to face Sumit Nagal in first round
SD Prajwal Dev became the only Indian to advance to the main draw of the Chennai Open 2024.
In the first round, he defeated his countryman Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam 6-7, 7-5, and was the only one from his nation to qualify for the last round of the qualifiers.
On Monday (February 5), Prajwal Dev beat Ukraine’s Vadym Ursu 6-3, 6-3. Dev converted five out of his seven break-point chances and that turned out to be the deciding factor in the context of the match. Ursu also broke his opponent’s serve two times but was unable to put Dev under enough pressure.
Ursu was tentative with his second serves winning only 26 percent of points (7 out of 27) from them and making six double faults.
Prajwal Dev would be up against second seed Sumit Nagal in the Round of 32 on Tuesday. Nadal recently achieved his career-best ranking of 121 after advancing to the second round of the men’s singles in the Australian Open 2024.
Nagal won three matches in a row in the qualifiers at Melbourne Park after which he handed Alexander Bublik a shock straight sets defeat in the opening round. Last year, Nagal bowed out of the Chennai Open after losing in the semi-final.
Mukund Sasikumar would lock horns with Poland’s Maks Kasnikowski in the first match of the afternoon session. Ramkumar Ramanathan, who was recently a part of the Indian squad in the Davis Cup tie against Pakistan, would be up against Spain’s Roca Batalla.
Chennai Open 2024: Day 2 (Indian Results)
SD Prajwal Dev (India) beat Vadym Ursu (Ukraine) 6-3, 6-3
Chennai Open 2024: Day 3 Schedule (Indians in action)
SD Prajwal Dev (India) vs Sumit Nagal (India) – Starts at 2 pm
Mukund Sasikumar (India) vs Maks Kasnikowski (Poland) – Not before 4:30 pm
Ramkumar Ramanathan (India) vs Roca Batalla (Spain) - Followed by