Pranjala Yadlapalli fights past Mana Ayukawa in Australian Open wild card play-off

Seventh seed Pranjala Yadlapalli had to be at her fighting best to get past qualifier Mana Ayukawa of Japan 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(3) in the women’s first round of the Australian Open wild card play-off tennis event in Zhuhai, China, on Wednesday.

In the quarterfinals, Pranjala will play another Japanese, Chihiro Muramatsu, who knocked out the Chinese third seed Fang YIng Xun 6-3, 6-3.

In the men’s event, second seed Ze Zhang of China proved strong in beating Sidharth Rawat 6-4, 6-2 in the first round.
Arjun Kadhe, the only other Indian in the men’s singles, will play seventh seed Renta Tokuda of Japan on Thursday.

The results:

Men (first round): Ze Zhang (Chn) bt Sidharth Rawat 6-4, 6-2.

Women (first round): Pranjala Yadlapalli bt Mana Ayukawa (Jpn) 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(3).