DUBAI: Comeback-man Yuki Bhambri proved he is back to his best with a convincing win over India number one Prajnesh Gunneswaran in the Qualifiers of the Dubai Duty Free Championships, here on Saturday.
Yuki, who is competing on a Protected Ranking (PR) knocked out his seventh seed compatriot 6-1, 6-4 in the opening round of the USD 2,048,855 hard court tournament.
Yuki has not lost to Prajnesh in three meetings. He had beaten the left-hander twice in 2017 — Bangalore and Karshi.
Yuki recently returned to competitive tennis after more than two years of injury-forced break when he competed at the Singapore Open, where he lost to Matthew Ebden.
The 28-year-old is now up against another compatriot Ramkumar Ramanathan, who knocked out sixth seed Russian Evgeny Donskoy 6-4, 6-4.
In his five matches against Ramkumar, Yuki has emerged winner on four occasions.
The all-Indian second round means that at least one player from the country will compete in the main draw of the prestigious ATP 500 event.