Saketh Myneni in his first challenger final after recovery from injury

Saketh Myneni in his first challenger final after recovery from injury

India’s Saketh Myneni reached the Bengaluru Open ATP Challenger final beating Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Nedovyesov in two hours and three minutes. This will be the first challenger tournament final for the Indian who has been out of the play due to the injury to his foot he suffered last year.

Saketh Myneni defeated Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Nedovyesov 4-6,6-4,6-4 in three sets in the semi-final match to reach the finals of the Bengaluru Open ATP Challenger. He will meet compatriot Prajnesh Gunneswaran in the final in Bengaluru. 

“I started well and later on my focus went off a little bit but thankfully I got it done,” Myneni said after the semi-finals.

Last year Myneni was out for almost six months due to a foot injury. This year though the story has been different as he has won 29 out of 38 encounters he has played. His best coming against Mikhail Youzhny whom Myneni beat 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the pre-quarterfinals of Astana Challenger.  

“It took a lot of toll on me. I couldn’t train or compete. When I came back, there was more pressure… especially because I wanted to come back quicker,” said Saketh.

“I was playing fine. But my body wasn’t supporting. I did the best I can during the off-season… And, I didn’t have a lot of time in the off-season. I got injured during last November . That took a lot of time during off-season. But from the beginning of the year, I’ve been playing tournaments. I thought I competed well but I am still a little away from where I want to be. The confidence is still there though. The more matches I play, I think, the better I get.”

In the finals, Myneni will meet compatriot P. Gunneswaran who reached the finals defeating B.Schnur of Canada in straight sets 6-4,6-1. On playing his friend Myneni said that “It’s never easy” to play against a friend.

“For me it’s always ‘us against the world.’ It’s always tough. Whenever you are at tournaments you train with fellow Indians and I am very good friends with all of them. We travel, train, know each other’s games pretty well.” Myneni added.

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