India’s number one ranked player Prajnesh Gunneswaran has made a direct entry into the 2019 Wimbledon thanks to his run to the final at the Anning Challenger last week.
Gunneswaran lost to Great Britain’s Jay Clarke in the final in a tournament he had won last year but that has given him enough points to feature at the Wimbledon this year without having to go through the qualifying rounds.
And an elated Gunneswaran admitted the result came as a relief after having gone into the tournament under the added pressure of a chance of qualifying for Wimbledon as well.
Speaking to the Indian newspaper, New Indian Express, Gunneswaran said he knew he had a chance of qualifying for the third Grand Slam of the year if he did well at Anning.
He added:
“From that aspect, yes, I was itching to do well.”
And with a direct entry to the US Open now a distinct possibility, the world number 75 Gunneswaran reckons he is not too far away from making it directly to the main draw of the US Open either.
Gunneswaran concluded:
“If I don’t have a disastrous next couple of months, I should make the main draw cut for US Open.”
And the Indian looks like he has done enough already. Last season, he earned 255 points over the first half of the year. This year, he has already reached that mark with less than four months completed and at least three more tournaments to play.
Gunneswaran is expected to play in two ATP 250 events at Lyon and Munich, before taking part at the 2019 French Open where he is a direct entrant as well. Last year, he hadn’t participated at Roland-Garros, so he has no points to defend there either.
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