Australian Open qualifiers: Prajnesh advances; Ramkumar, Ankita ousted

Prajnesh Gunneswaran knocked out local wild card Harry Bourchier 6-2 6-4 to set up a second round clash with Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann.

India's Prajnesh Gunneswaran is two games away from making the Australian Open main draw (File Photo).

Prajnesh Gunneswaran advanced to the second round of the Australian Open qualifiers but Ramkumar Ramanathan frittered away a one-set advantage to make an exit in Melbourne on Tuesday.

Prajnesh knocked out local wild card Harry Bourchier 6-2 6-4 to set up a second round clash with Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann.

Ramkumar led against 15th seed Argentine Federico Coria before losing steam to suffer a 6-4 4-6 1-6 defeat, thereby collapsing yet again in the Qualifiers of a Grand Slam.

Prajnesh had last year competed in the main draws of all four majors (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open).

Sumit Nagal, who enjoyed a breakthrough 2019 season, will open his campaign in the qualifiers against Egypt's Mohamed Safwat.

In the women’s qualifiers, India’s lone contender Ankita Raina went down fighting 2-6 6-7(2) against Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova.