Mason native Vignesh Gogineni falls in Cincinnati Open qualifying

MASON − Vignesh Gogineni, a former state champion with the Mason Comets, fell in his Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour debut on Tuesday, Aug. 11, in the first round of Cincinnati Open qualifying to Finland’s Otto Virtanen, 6-3, 6-1.

“I grew up coming to this tournament. This is where I fell in love with the sport. To come back here was monumental to be on the other side of things and to be the person I grew up watching meant a lot to me,” Gogineni said.

In his pre-tournament media availability, Gogineni said handling the emotions of playing in his hometown event would be vital. On Tuesday, he had an extra 90 minutes of anticipation as a steady rain at the Lindner Family Tennis Center delayed the start of qualifying.

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“It was definitely shaky and very nerve-wracking,” Gogineni said. “At almost every changeover I was taking five deep breaths just to try to calm myself down.”

The rain disrupted Gogineni’s usual pre-match routine, but the 22-year-old still battled the emotions and held serve three times to begin the opening set with several fist pumps toward his coaching box, which included his former Yale coach.

Gogineni held an early 3-2 lead in the first set, then had a chance to break Virtanen in the sixth game at 40-40 but couldn’t capitalize as his normal charges toward the net came up empty. Virtanen would rally to win the final four games of the first set and didn’t look back.

“If I was 2-to-5% more intense, more explosive and more focused, I think definitely at least the first set would’ve gone a lot differently and maybe even the whole match,” Gogineni said.

Gogineni’s hot start fizzled out as Virtanen began landing multiple hard-hitting serves that hovered around 130 mph. Virtanen finished with 11 aces and won 82% of first-serve points.

“I felt almost helpless toward the end of the (first) set and even in the second set. It was really hard,” Gogineni said. “I haven’t seen that type of serve a lot at my level.”

With an ATP event under his belt, Gogineni said the waiting will be the hardest part as he aims for a return to Mason in 2027.

“I’m hoping to be back here. I obviously have a whole year,” he said. “I think that’s what hurts the most, having to wait another 365 days if I get this opportunity again to be able to show that I’m capable of much more than this.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Mason native Vignesh Gogineni falls in Cincinnati Open qualifying