Prajnesh progresses, Ramkumar, Ankita ousted from Australian Open qualifiers

Prajnesh Gunneswaran vanced to second round of Australian Open qualifiers but Ramkumar Ramanathan frittered away a one-set vant to make an exit, here Tuesday. Prajnesh kcked out local wild card Harry Bourchier 6-2 6-4 to set up second-round clash with Germany's Yannick Hanfmann. Ramkumar led against 15th seed Argentine before losing steam to suffer a 6-4 4-6 1-6 defeat to yet again collapse in Qualifiers of a Grand Slam.

Prajnesh h last year competed in main draws of all four majors of season. Sumit Nagal, who enjoyed a breakthrough 2019 season, will open his campaign in qualifiers against Egypt's Mohamed Safwat. In women's qualifiers, India's lone contender Ankita Raina went down fighting 2-6  6-7(2) against Bulgaria's Viktoriya Tomova