Melbourne: In-form Prajnesh Gunneswaran inched closer to his maiden Grand Slam appearance with another straight-set win but Ankita Raina and Ramkumar Ramanathan were ousted from the Australian Open Qualifiers after suffering narrow defeats, here Thursday.
Prajnesh, seeded sixth, got the better of Spain’s Enrique Lopez Perez 6-3, 6-3 in the men’s singles second round. “I played a better match than Wednesday and remained solid throughout. I broke three times and there were not too many games where my serve was in danger. I played good mentally as well. I did the right things, attacked when I got chances. Looking forward to the final round Friday,” Prajnesh said.
The World No.112 will next take on Japan’s Yosuke Watanaki, ranked 192 in the world. If Prajnesh wins Friday’s match, it will be his first main draw competition at a Grand Slam. He unfortunately missed out on playing at 2018 French Open when as a lucky loser he made the main draw but since he had left Paris and entered a Challenger tournament, he missed out on the chance.
Injured Yuki Bhambri had played in all four Grand Slam main draws in 2018. Placed 132 in the world rankings, Ramkumar played a very close match before losing 7-5, 5-7, 6-7 to Germany’s Rudolf Molleker, ranked 207.
In the women’s singles, Asian Games bronze medallist Ankita also had a one-set advantage but went down 6-4, 2-6, 4-6 to Spain’s 29th seed Paula Badosa Gibert, World No.142.
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