Pune: Young Sasi Mukund fought tooth and nail in the second set before going down to Japanese Taro Daniel here on Wednesday, leaving Prajnesh Gunneswaran as the only Indian left in the men's singles main draw of the Tata Open Maharashtra. Sasi's special debut. The Indian youngster, 23, who was handed a wild-card entry lost 2-6, 6-7 (7) in the opening round of the ATP 250 event.

"Making a main draw debut in Pune is a very special for me. Playing here has given me experience of playing in front of the crowd. I got broken too early in the sets. I had a chance with five all. It's not because of that one break point why I am sitting here. It was because of all the points I played," said Mukund, who played in the qualifying round in the last two editions.