Prajnesh, Nagal out of Wimbledon qualifiers

Prajnesh, who is in the form of his life, could not play to his potential due to an abdominal strain, losing 1-6, 4-6 to Germany’s Tobias Kamke.

239th ranked Sumit Nagal suffered his eighth straight first-round defeat when he was thrashed 2-6, 0-6 by Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak, ranked 192. (File Photo)

In-form Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Sumit Nagal crashed out of the Wimbledon Qualifiers, losing their first rounds in London, today.

Prajnesh, who is in the form of his life, could not play to his potential due to an abdominal strain, losing 1-6, 4-6 to Germany’s Tobias Kamke.

Interestingly, the Indian left-hander had lost to Kamke, ranked 228 as compared to 165 of Prajnesh, at the Australian Open qualifying also at the same stage. “I just could not serve due to an abdominal strain,” a dejected Prajnesh said from London.

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The result means that Prajnesh will now have to wait for the next season to make an attempt to earn an appearance in the main draw of the Grand Slams as he will miss out on US Open qualifiers because he will compete for India at the Asian Games, which is clashing with the Qualifiers at Flushing Meadows.

239th ranked Sumit Nagal, who is going through a rough patch, suffered his eighth straight first-round defeat when he was thrashed 2-6, 0-6 by Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak, ranked 192.

Indian Davis Cupper Ramkumar Ramanathan is still in the fray. He is seeded 15th in the Qualifiers and has been drawn to meet Italian Simone Bolleli.

Meanwhile, in the ladies singles Qualifiers, Ankita Raina got an easy opening round against local girl Maia Lumsden, ranked a low 422.

In the doubles, the Indian pair of N. Sriram Balaji and Vishnu Vardhan have been seeded sixth and they open their campaign against G. Melzer and S. Galdos.

In-form pair of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and his American partner Austin Krajicek are seeded fourth and they are up against the local pair of A. Mchugh and M. Willis.