Gunneswaran loses to Kudla in Cary Challenger final

Cary (US), Nov 16 (IANS) Indian tennis player Prajnesh Gunneswaran ended as runner's up in the men's singles event of the Atlantic Tire Championships after suffering a hard-fought defeat against America's Denis Kudla in the summit clash of the ATP Challenger event.Gunneswaran lost 6-3, 3-6, 0-6 to Kudla in the final of the $52,080 Challenger tennis tournament played on Sunday. The fourth-seeded Indian started off the match in emphatic fashion, winning the first set. However, the second-seeded American came back strongly in the next two sets and eventually won the match to take home the title. Gunneswaran had entered the finals after getting a walkover against Denmark's marathon man Mikael Torpegaard on Saturday. Before that, the 146th ranked Indian had defeated Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(5) in a very back and forth match among the two left-handers to make it to the semi-finals. Earlier, he had beaten America's Jack Sock 6-7 (3), 6-2, 7-6(5) in the second-round contest.
--IANS aak/