Prajnesh Gunneswaran in second qualifying round of Australian Open

The country’s No.1 singles player, Prajnesh Gunneswaran beat wild card Harry Bourchier of Australia 6-2, 6-4 to reach the second qualifying round of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Tuesday.

In the second round, the 30-year-od Prajnesh, ranked 122 in the world, will play Yannick Hanfmann of Germany.

There was not much other success for the Indian players as Ramkumar Ramanathan went down after winning the first set against Federico Coria of Argentina while Ankita Raina could only stretch Viktoriya tomova of Bulgaria to the tie-beak in the second set.

The 128th ranked Sumit Nagal was scheduled to play his first round against the 172nd ranked Mohamed Safwat of Egypt.

The results (qualifying singles first round):
Men: Federico Coria (Arg) bt Ramkumar Ramanathan 4-6, 6-4, 6-1; Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt Harry Bourchier (Aus) 6-2, 6-4.

Women: Viktoriya Tomova (Bul) bt Ankita Raina 6-2, 7-6(2).

(Courtesy: The Hindu)