Dhakshineswar Suresh’s Winston-Salem Run Ends, but Indian Tennis Finds Another Breakthrough

Dhakshineswar Suresh’s run at the ATP 250 Winston-Salem Open 2026 may have ended in the Round of 32, but the Indian’s performance against World No. 51 Juan Manuel Cerundolo showed why his name is beginning to attract attention on the professional circuit.

Facing the eighth seed and one of the most consistent players of the season, Suresh pushed Cerundolo through an intense opening set before eventually going down 7-6(10), 6-3. The scoreline, however, only tells part of the story. The Indian, ranked No. 394 in the world, was competing against a player more than 340 places above him in the ATP rankings. Yet for large stretches of the opening set, there was little to separate the two.

Cerundolo needed to save two set points in a dramatic tie-break before finally taking the opener 12-10. The Argentine then secured the only break of the match in the second set and closed out a hard-fought victory in one hour and 48 minutes. Remarkably, Cerundolo won just 80 points compared to Suresh’s 73 across the entire contest. It was an indication of how fine the margins were, particularly in the opening set.

While the defeat ended Suresh’s immediate campaign, his presence in the Winston-Salem main draw had already created a significant piece of Indian tennis history. In 2019, Prajnesh Gunneswaran became the first Indian man to win a main-draw match at the Winston-Salem Open. Seven years later, Dhakshineswar Suresh became only the second Indian man to achieve that feat.

For a player who has spent much of his recent career building his ranking through college tennis and the ATP Challenger Tour, the victory represented another important milestone. Suresh has enjoyed an encouraging period since completing his college season. He has begun winning matches consistently on the Challenger circuit and recently reached the semifinals of the Challenger 125 event in Bloomfield Hills.

That run included one of the biggest performances of his recent career, as he took a set off American Alex Michelsen in the semifinals.

His progression has been gradual, but the signs have been increasingly difficult to ignore. The Winston-Salem Open offered Suresh an opportunity to test himself at a higher level, and his performance against Cerundolo suggested that he belongs in the conversation.

A Brutal First Set Against World No. 51

Cerundolo arrived in Winston-Salem as the eighth seed and one of the stronger clay-to-hard-court performers on the ATP Tour this season. The Argentine had already enjoyed an impressive North American swing, including an upset victory over Arthur Rinderknech in Cincinnati. He had also recorded wins over talented opponents such as Hamad Medjedovic and Mark Lajal.

More importantly, Cerundolo has been enjoying the most consistent season of his career. His World No. 51 ranking reflects a player who has repeatedly gone deep in tournaments and developed into a difficult opponent across conditions.

Against Suresh, however, the Argentine was pushed to his limit in the opening set. Cerundolo's game is built around his ability to absorb pressure and force opponents to play extra balls. His counterpunching from the baseline allows him to extend rallies, while his return game and forehand are among his biggest strengths.

For Suresh, the challenge was to avoid allowing the Argentine to dictate long exchanges.

The Indian did exactly that for much of the first set. He stayed with Cerundolo from the baseline and created opportunities in the tie-break. Twice, Suresh came within a point of taking the opening set. Cerundolo, though, showed the composure expected of a top-100 player. He saved both set points and eventually won the tie-break 12-10.

That proved to be the defining moment of the match.

The second set was more straightforward, but only by comparison. There was just one break of serve during the entire match, with Cerundolo converting the crucial opportunity to take control of the contest. For Suresh, the difference was not a collapse in performance but the difficulty of recovering after such an intense first set.

Cerundolo began finding more rhythm and used his experience to manage the key moments better. His ability to extend rallies and force opponents to repeatedly construct points eventually created the opening he needed. The Argentine's serve is considered the more vulnerable aspect of his game, but Suresh was unable to create another decisive opening.

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Cerundolo closed out the match 7-6(10), 6-3 and advanced to the Round of 16, where he will face the winner of the match between Sebastian Baez and Hugo Grenier.

For Dhakshineswar Suresh, the result should not be viewed simply as another first-round defeat on the ATP Tour. He entered the match ranked No. 394. His opponent was World No. 51 and the eighth seed. Despite that difference, Suresh was two points away from taking the first set and finished only seven points behind Cerundolo in the overall points tally.

That matters. The biggest challenge for players making the transition from the Challenger circuit to ATP-level tournaments is often proving that they can stay competitive against higher-ranked opponents. Suresh did that in Winston-Salem.

The next step will be consistency. His recent Challenger results, the Bloomfield Hills semifinal and his historic Winston-Salem main-draw victory have provided a platform. If he can continue converting these performances into ranking points, more opportunities at the ATP Tour level will follow.

From Prajnesh Gunneswaran’s breakthrough in 2019 to Dhakshineswar Suresh’s historic win seven years later, Winston-Salem has now produced another memorable moment for Indian men’s tennis.

Suresh may have fallen short against Juan Manuel Cerundolo, but the bigger takeaway from the week is clear.

The 24-year-old has shown that he can compete with players ranked inside the world’s top 100. And after a strong college season, a growing Challenger Tour resume and now a memorable ATP 250 campaign, Dhakshineswar Suresh appears to be taking his first serious steps towards establishing himself at the higher levels of professional tennis.