Ramkumar Ramanathan advanced to the second round of qualifying at Wimbledon but Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Ankita Raina bowed out in the first on Tuesday.
Ramkumar, who has never played the main draw of a Grand Slam, beat Slovakian 13th seed Jozef Kovalik in straight sets 6-3, 6-0. He will next play Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
Raina, the only Indian woman in the draw, lost 3-6, 6-7(1) to former top-20 player Varvara Lepchenko.
Prajnesh, battling a wrist injury that had forced him to retire from his last tournament, lost in straight sets to British wild card Arthur Fery, who is not ranked even inside top-1000. The left-handed Indian, ranked 148, lost 1-6 6-7(5) to his 18-year-old rival, who is ranked as low as 1038.
“I had tendinitis (left-wrist) which started three weeks ago. It’s fine now. But I just started playing. I only hit for two days and for less than an hour each. So just not in the best shape,” Prajnesh told PTI. “If it wasn’t Wimbledon. I wouldn’t have played. Just didn’t have enough time to get ready,” he said.
This is the third straight time that Prajnesh has failed to advance to the main draw of a Grand Slam having fallen at the first round of qualifiers in the French and Australian Open. His last appearance in men’s singles at a Grand Slam was at the 2020 Australian Open.
With PTI Inputs
