India’s top-ranked singles player Prajnesh Gunneswaran made it to his first ever ATP Masters 1000 main draw when he qualified for the tournament proper at Indian Wells on Thursday morning.
World No 97 and ninth seed in qualification Prajnesh Gunneswaran recorded a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win over Salvatore Caruso of Italy.
The 29-year-old left-hander from Chennai had made his Australian Open debut earlier this year as well, qualifying for the main draw of the season’s first Major.
Prajnesh had defeated Vietnam’s Jason Jung 7-5, 6-4 in the previous round of qualification. The Indian will face France’s Benoit Paire in the first round on Saturday (early morning, Indian time). Paire is ranked 69th in the world and this will be the first meeting between the two on tour.
In the doubles draw, Rohan Bopanna and his Canadian partner Denis Shapovalov take on Bruno Soares and Jamie Murray on Friday.
Earlier in the qualifiers, Ramkumar Ramanathan lost in straight sets to Filip Krajinović 6-4, 6-0.
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