Prajnesh Gunneswaran was the lone winner on Day 1 of the Australian Open qualifying competition, overcoming Australian wildcard Harry Bourchier, 6-2 6-4. On being asked about his preparations for the 2020 Australian Open, he said – “I had a little bit of a rough end to 2019. So my preparation has not been too bad, but I wouldn’t say it has been ideal either. I had my wrist injury, and had some issues at home too. So I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to train. But it is what it is and I have to just to get on with it.”
Ramkumar Ramanathan started strong in his match, taking the first set off 15th seed Federico Coria, but couldn’t keep the momentum up, losing in the decider to the higher ranked Argentine. Ramkumar won the 1st set 6-4, but lost the other two 4-6 & 1-6 to Coria, who’s the younger brother of Argentine tennis legend & 2004 French Open finalist, Guillermo Coria.
Ankita Raina lost to higher ranked Viktoriya Tomova from Bulgaria after being a break up in the 2nd set, but eventually losing out in a tiebreak.
Sumit Nagal will play his first match on Thursday against Egyptian Mohamed Safwat.
Results & photos below –
Men –
[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,183) lost to (15) Federico Coria (ARG,118) 6-4 4-6 1-6
[Q1] (17) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,122) beat (WC) Harry Bourchier (AUS,286) 6-2 6-4
Women –
[Q1] Ankita Raina (IND,175) lost to Viktoriya Tomova (BUL,146) 2-6 6-7(2)
All photos by Kshitij Elizabeth Murali(Instagram – @kemimages)
