DOHA (Qatar): India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan outsmarted Facundo Bagnis to advance into the second round at the Australian Open qualifiers here on Sunday.
The world No. 188 defeated 10th-seed and 125-ranked Argentinian 7-6, 7-5 at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex court.
There was little to choose between the two in the first set. Ramkumar broke the Argentine in the first game but Bagnis returned the favour in the 10th game.
I’ve prepared like any other Grand Slams: Prajnesh
On Monday, India’s top-ranked player Prajnesh Gunneswaran will open his campaign against Canada’s Brayden Schnur at Court No.3.
Prajnesh, who made his first Grand Slam appearance at the 2019 Australian Open. would go on to play the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in 2019 but was knocked out in the first round.
But the 31-year-old said his preparations for the qualifiers was “normal just like any other Grand Slam events”.
“I’ve prepared like any other Grand Slams or beginning of the year. There’s always an off season. And then we get ready for the start of the season in January. The only difference is that the location of Australian Open is in a different venue other than in Australia but otherwise not much has changed,” Prajnesh told KHEL UPDATES in an exclusive interview.
Asked why Indians fail to go beyond the first rounds at the top Grand Slams, Prajnesh, ranked 128 on the ATP, said, “At the end of the day, you’re playing against the best players of the world. As Indian, we have disadvantages when it comes to playing tennis in general. We don’t have the same infrastructure and environment in India if you compare with the Europeans who are super power in the sport.”
