India’s top-ranked singles player Prajnesh Gunnesaran drew world No 17 Milos Raonic as his first round opponent at Wimbledon on Friday. It will be tough start for the 29-year-old against the Canadian who had reached the finals in 2016, losing to Andy Murray.
Left-handed Prajnesh, ranked 94 in the world, will make be making his debut on the grass courts of Wimbledon after making the main draw of the second straight Grand Slam by virtue of his top-100 ranking.
It will be his third straight appearance at the Grand Slam events this season, having qualified for Australian Open in January. The Indian had lost in the first round on both occasions.
Prajnesh is the only Indian in the singles main draw as Ramkumar Ramanathan and Ankita Raina exited after losing their respective second round matches on Wednesday.
In the men’s doubles, Divij Sharan and his Brazilian partner Marcelo Demoliner will open their campaign against German 13th seeded pair of Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies.
Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas are up against New Zealand’s Marcus Daniell and Wesley Koolhof from the Netherlands.
The all-Indian team of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Purav Raja have been pitted against veteran Australian Lleyton Hewitt and his compatriot Jordan Thompson.
Veteran Leander Paes and Benoit Paire will clash with Kazakhstan pair of Alexander Bublik and Mikhail Kukushkin.
The mixed doubles draw will be announced next week.
With PTI inputs
