SD Prajwal Dev emerged as the sole Indian to progress to the main draw of the Chennai Open 2024.
In the opening round, he overcame his compatriot Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam in a hard-fought battle, triumphing 6-7, 7-5, thus securing his spot as the lone representative from India in the final round of qualifiers.
On Monday (February 5), Prajwal Dev secured a convincing victory over Ukraine’s Vadym Ursu with a scoreline of 6-3, 6-3. Dev capitalized on five out of seven break-point opportunities, a pivotal factor in determining the outcome of the match. While Ursu managed to break his opponent’s serve twice, he couldn’t exert enough pressure on Dev.
Ursu struggled with his second serves, winning only 26 percent of points (7 out of 27) from them and committing six double faults.
In the Round of 32, Prajwal Dev is set to face off against the second-seeded Sumit Nagal on Tuesday. Nagal recently achieved his career-best ranking of 121 after progressing to the second round of the men’s singles at the Australian Open 2024.
Nagal’s journey began with three consecutive victories in the qualifiers at Melbourne Park, culminating in a stunning straight-sets win over Alexander Bublik in the opening round. Last year, Nagal bowed out of the Chennai Open in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Mukund Sasikumar is slated to take on Poland’s Maks Kasnikowski in the first match of the afternoon session, while Ramkumar Ramanathan, fresh from his participation in the Indian Davis Cup tie against Pakistan, will face Spain’s Roca Batalla.
