Indian tennis players had a good start to the Australian Open qualifying with Ramkumar Ramanathan and Ankita Raina winning their first-round matches with ease. However, Karman Kaur Thandi went down in the first round.
Ramkumar, who is seeded 21st in the qualifiers, beat Sergio Gutierrez-Ferrol 6-3, 6-2 in the first round while India’s top-ranked female singles player Ankita Raina overcame Myrtille Georges 6-2,6-2 to advance to the second round of qualifying. Thandi, who is ranked 207 in the world, had a topsy-turvy match against 16th seed Jennifer Brady, losing 6-0, 7-5.
Raina will play 29th seed Paula Badosa Gibert in the second round while Ramkumar’s opponent is yet to be decided.
The only other Indian in the draw is Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who is seeded sixth and will start his qualifying campaign against Croatia’s Victor Galovic early on Wednesday.
It was a good start for Raina, who had fallen in the first and second round of qualifying at French Open and Wimbledon respectively, which was her first shot at Grand Slams. She had missed US Open qualifiers due to the Asian Games, where she won a rare singles bronze meal.
Ramkumar, who has never qualified for a Grand Slam main draw despite multiple attempts over the years, had narrowly missed out in Melbourne last year.
The 24-year-old was beaten in the third and final round, losing to Vasek Pospisil in three sets. He had missed the US Open qualifiers as well, and fallen in the first round at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
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