Indian tennis: Prajnesh beats Polansky, last week’s runner-up Ramkumar out of Cary Challenger

India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan bowed out of the Atlantic Tire Championships, an ATP Challenger event, after losing his first round match to the experienced Teymuraz Gabashvili.

But India’s challenge is alive as Prajnesh Gunneswaran reached the pre-quarterfinals of the hard court tournament. The left-hander had beaten Canadian Peter Polansky 6-2, 6-2 on Tuesday. He is set to face former top-10 player Jack Sock next.

Ramkumar had made the final of the Eckental Challenger in Germany last week and was playing in quick succession. He lost 6-3, 4-6, 1-6 to his 35-year-old Russian rival.

He lost his doubles first round too with partner Andre Goransson. The second seed Indo-Swede pair lost 1-6, 4-6 to American Hunter Reese and Dutch Sem Verbeek.

Among the women, India No 1 Ankita Raina lost to Catherine Harrison 4-6, 5-7 in her opener at the ITF $25K event in Orlando. But she is still alive in doubles with partner Gabriela Ce.