Prajnesh goes down fighting at Bendigo Challenger

Bendigo (Australia): Prajnesh Gunneswaran fought hard before going down to Taro Daniel in the second round of the Bendigo Challenger event, here on Tuesday.

Prajnesh lost 4-6, 6-7(4) to the Japanese, ranked 16 places above him at number 122, at the $162480 ATP Challenger event.

The Indian could convert just one of the six break points he created while he saved six of the eight break points he faced in the one-hour-30-minute contest.

"It was a close match. I had a lot of chances but I could not convert. I made a lot of errors. I was aggressive and tried to attack and that was the positive from today's match," Prajnesh told PTI.

"In the first set I had chances in the beginning. He was tentative because it was his first match of the season. He was pushing the second serves a bit but I did not go after that. I could have changed the tempo of the match, had I been a break up early, than being on serve and losing at 4-5."

Further explaining the reasons for not doing as well as he could have, Prajnesh said he still can't unleash his favourite shot since he has not yet completely recovered from his wrist injury.

"In the second set I came back from a break down. I need my forehand to back in its original shape. I was playing little flat and made a lot of mistakes because of that. I have to work on this. I still have some issues so I can't play with the kind of spin I do," said Prajnesh, who relies a lot on top spin.