Prajnesh Gunneswaran made a stunning return from oblivion as he shocked senior pro Karan Rastogi in the Chennai Open singles qualifiers, on Saturday.
Prajnesh, who was a finalist in the senior national championship in 2007 and the winner of junior championship same year, scored an impressive 6-1, 6-3 win over Rastogi.
Prajnesh had trained at Spanish Tennis Academy for a few years before vanishing from the competitive scene.
Also advancing to the second round was Rohan Bopanna and Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash.
Bopanna progressed when his opponent Vijay Sundar Prashanth opted out of contest after losing the first set 3-6. Mohit outplayed Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-2,6-2 in his first round.
Dutch star Thiemo de Bakker saw off Spain's Arnau Brugues-Davi in a compelling encounter as he beat his rival 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).
Among the defeated Indians Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Sriram Balaji put up a brave fight while Neeraj Elangovan, Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan, Akash Wagh and Abhijeet Tiwari lost tamely.
Nedunchezhiyan went down fighting to Vasek Pospisil of Canada 6-7 (7), 6-7 (7), Balaji lost to Rajeev Ram of USA 5-7, 4-6.
