Maharashtra Open 2019: Kevin Anderson starts as favourite; tricky draw for Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Ramkumar Ramanathan

Pune: At the first edition of the Maharashtra Open last year, Gilles Simon snagged the top three seeds on his way to an unlikely triumph in Pune. However, with all eyes on him this time around and everyone wary of his abilities, Simon may find it difficult to defend his title.

Top seed Kevin Anderson, now the main attraction following tournament regular Marin Cilic’s withdrawal, starts as the favourite for the title. With the top four seeds handed byes in the first round, Anderson does not start his campaign until Tuesday when he will face the winner of the match between Djere Laslo and Arjun Khade.

Simon, who beat Anderson in the final to win the the title last year, is seeded third and will start his defence against the winner of the match between Ilya Ivashka and Hubert Hurkacz. Anderson could possibly have his revenge against Simon in the semi-finals. However, while Anderson has a relatively easy quarter, Simon will have to possibly battle past his mercurial compatriot, fifth seed Benoit Paire, or  Czech star Jiri Vesely in the quarter-finals.

In the bottom half, second seed Hyeon Chung also faces tricky clashes in his quarter. Should Ernests Gulbis get the better of Pedro Sousa in the opening round, he will pose a tough challenge for the Korean Next Gen star. That will be followed by a quarter-final showdown against the big-serving Ivo Karlovic or the tireless Pablo Andujar.

In contrast, fourth seed Malek Jaziri has a relatively easy quarter. The World No 45 has only two top-100 stars in his quarter in sixth seed and World No 73 Roberto Carballes Baena and World No 97 Marcel Granollers.

Prajnesh, Ramanathan get tricky draw

In the bottom half of the draw, India’s top-ranked player Prajnesh Gunneswaran starts his campaign against upcoming American star Michael Mmoh. While the two have never played against each other before, one can expect an evenly-matched contest given that Mmoh at World No 103 is just four rungs higher than Gunneswaran. The Chennai-based southpaw ended 2018 on a high by reaching the finals of three of five challenger tournaments he played and also beating compatriot Saketh Myneni to win the Bengaluru Open. Crucially, the 29-year-old is familiar with the conditions at Pune reaching the finals of the KSLTA Challenger last year.

In the same half, Ramkumar Ramanathan takes on Spain’s Marcel Granollers in the first round. The duo had faced off in Chennai in 2014 where Ramanathan slumped to a tame 2-6, 4-6 loss.

However, the dynamics have changed four years on. Granollers, then ranked in the top 40, has slid down to World No 97 while Ramanathan, then ranked 406, has risen through the rankings to 133. Their last match up in the quarter-finals at Nottingham was evenly matched with Ramnath taking the match to the Spaniard before narrowly losing 6-7, 6-4, 6-7. Since then, Ramanathan reached his first-ever ATP final at Newport, but lost to American Steve Johnson in three sets. Despite ending 2018 with a string of first and second round losses, it was a fruitful year for the Chennai lad and he will be gunning to get the new year off to a good start.

In the top half of the draw, local boy Khade, who was handed a wildcard for the tournament, will take on 23-year-old Serbian Laslo. It will be an uphill task for 392-ranked Khade against a player who is ranked 298 rungs above him. Should Khade beat Laslo, he will be up against top seed and World No 7 Anderson in the second round.

Among all Indian players, Saketh Myneni has been handed the toughest draw so far as he has been drawn against fifth seed Benoit Paire in the first round. Myneni battled through the qualifiers to make it to the main draw. The Vizag native has already spent four and a half hours on the court has he beat higher-ranked opponents in Chinese-Taipei’s Jason Jung and Bulgarian Egor Gerasimov in two tough three-setters. Myneni also had issues with his elbow during the match against Gerasimov.

Myneni clearly starts as the underdog against World No 52 Paire and should he beat the Frenchman, it would be the upset of the tournament.