Indians had a mixed outing on the first day of the qualifying matches for the Australian Open. Yuki Bhambri and Ramkumar Ramanathan, India’s top two singles players, passed a stiff challenge to register victories in the first round of the qualifiers on Wednesday. However, Sumit Nagal and Prajnesh Gunneswaran, the other two Indians in contention, failed to go through.

All the Indians in contention needed three sets but only two got past the first hurdle, both fighting from a set down. Ramkumar came back from a set and 3-5 down to beat American Bradley Klahn 6-7(6-8), 7-6(7-3), 6-2 in the two hours and seven minutes . The 28th seed will play Gleb Sakharov next in a bid to qualify for the first Grand Slam of the year.

Bhambri, seeded 15th, also needed to rally from a set down to beat Canada’s Brayden Schnur 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 50 minutes. He will play Spaniard Carlos Taberner next.

Nagal’s match also went to three sets, but the Indian youngster blew hot and cold, before going down to Italy’s Alessandro Giannessi 6-7(5), 6-3, 3-6 in two hours and 17 minutes. The 20-year-old led 3-1 in after an early break in the decider but couldn’t hold on to the momentum.

Earlier, Prajnesh Gunneswaran lost to Germany’s Tobias Kamke 6-4, 1-6, 2-6, stumbling after taking the first set, in a match that was done in one hour and 32 minutes.

The first three had last played at the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune where both fell to seeded opponents in the second round. Bhambri had gone down 6-4, 3-6, 4-6 to France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert while Ramkumar had lost 4-6, 3-6 to top seed Marin Cilic. Nagal had lost 6-3, 6-3 to Belarus’s Ilya Ivashka in his first match.

Meanwhile, a number of top-ranked seeds fell on Wednesday. Second-seeded French veteran Nicolas Mahut fell to world No.255 Danilo Petrovic 7-6(4), 6-3. Bernard Tomic, the 29th seed who didn’t get a wildcard for the main draw, needed only 48 minutes to overcome Frenchman Vincent Millot 6-1 6-3.