Prajnesh makes Australian Open main draw as 'Lucky Loser'

Prajnesh Gunneswaran had lost to Latvia's Ernests Gulbis in the final round of qualifying on Friday, however, he reaches the main draw as a 'lucky loser' now.

India's Prajnesh Gunneswaran will face Tatsuma Ito of Japan in the Australian Open first round this year.(File Photo).

India's Prajnesh Gunneswaran qualified for the main draw of Australian Open 2020 as a 'Lucky Loser' on Saturday, after a few players pulled out of the tournament.

The 30-year-old had lost to Latvia's Ernests Gulbis in the final round of qualifying on Friday, however, due to a couple of injury withdrawals (Alex de Minaur and Kamil Majchrzak) and a doping suspension (Nicolas Jarry), Prajnesh now makes his fifth straight main draw at a Grand Slam.

Prajnesh, the highest ranked player among those eliminated in the qualifiers' final hurdle, will now take on Tatsuma Ito of Japan in the this year's Australian Open first round.

If the Indian world No. 122 comes out on top in that game, he could possibly face defending champion Novak Djokovic in the next round.

Prajnesh had made the main draw of every single Grand Slam (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open) last year.

In Melbourne, during the 2020 qualifiers, Prajnesh defeated local wildcard Harry Bourchier and Germany's Yannick Hanfmann before eventually losing out to Gulbis.