It was a mixed day for Indians in the qualification for Indian Wells, the first Masters 1,000 tournament of the season. While ninth seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran cruised, Ramkumar Ramanathan was crushed by the end of a rain-delayed match early on Wednesday.
India No 1 Prajnesh, who has recently broken in the Top 100, reached the final round of qualifying with a straight sets 7-5, 6-4 win over world No 132 Jason Jung. The 29-year-old will play Salvatore Caruso from Italy next in a bid to reach his first ATP Masters. He made his Grand Slam debut earlier this year at the Australian Open, after playing his first ATP World Tour match in June last year.
However, it was a poor day for Ramkumar who went down 4-6, 0-6 to world No 113 Filip Krajinovic in the first round of qualification.
On the ATP Challenger tour, Sumit Nagal lost 4-6, 6-0, 3-6 to Johannes Haerteis in the first round in Santiago, Chile earlier this week. However, the Indian is still alive in doubles with Gerald Granollers.
In Zhuhai, China, Saketh Myneni reached the doubles quarter-final with partner Sanchai Ratiwatana, at the expense of compatriot N Sriram Balaji and partner Hans Hach Verdugo. They beat the third seeds 6-4,6-4. He had earlier lost in the first round of the singles to Enrique López Pérez.
Other results
How Indians fared on the International Tennis Federation tour across countries:
- Arjun Kadhe, seeded third, beat Australia’s Michael LOOK 6-4 6-1 at the $25,000 ITF tournament in Australia
- Karman Kaur Thandi beat Alexandra Perper 6-0 6-4 in a $25,000 tournament in Mexico.
- Rutuja Bhosale beats Anri Nagata 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 in the $25,000 ITF tournament in Japan.
- Mihika Yadav lost to Oliwia Szymczuch 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 in at a $15,000 tournament in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
- Jiri Leheka and Dalibor Svrcina (CZE) beat top seeds Sidharth Rawat and Manish SSureshkumar 6-4, 6-7(2), [10-7] at the $15,000 tournament in Doha.
