It was a mixed day for the Indian tennis contingent participating at the Australian Open qualifiers after Indian tennis star Prajnesh Gunneshwaran advanced into the next round of the Australian Open qualifiers while Ramkumar Ramanathan and Ankita Raina were knocked out of the tournament after facing defeats.
Prajnesh Gunneshwaran had started the new decade with a 7-5 6-3 victory over Jason Kubler at the Apis Canberra International in Australia. However, his happiness was short-lived after he was ousted from the tournament after losing in the second round of the event.
In the women’s qualifiers the only Indian contender Ankita Raina, India number one tennis player, went down fighting against 2-6 6-7(2) against Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova.
India’s biggest hope in the qualifiers of the Australian Open Sumit Nagal is scheduled to begin his campaign at the qualifiers on Thursday against Egypt’s Mohamed Safwat. Sumit had a breakthrough 2019 season which saw the Indian winning a set against legendary Swiss tennis star Roger Federer at the US Open.