India’s top-ranked WTA player Ankita Raina reached the second round of the Wimbledon qualifiers while India’s top-ranked ATP player Prajnesh Gunneswaran went down in the second round at Antalya Open.
The world No 171 Raina beat Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay of Turkey 6-4, 6-3 on Tuesday to set a second-round clash with former Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki.
Earlier this month, Raina had defeated the German to record one of the biggest wins of her career on grass at the ITF Surbiton Trophy in London.
In the first qualifying match, the 26-year-old converted a break point in the third game to take the first set 6-4. In the second set, Indian was up 2-0 after an early break and could have gone 3-0 but failed to convert three break points. But it was a straight sets win in the end.
Meanwhile, Prajnesh Gunneswaran went down to world No 75 Lorenzo Sonego 7-6 (3), 0-6, 5-7 in the second round of the grass-court ATP 250 tournament in Tukey.
The Italian had upset eighth seed Joao Sousa in the first round and continued in the same vein to fight back from a set down to beat the Indian world No 94.
In the doubles at the same event, veteran Leander and his French partner Benoit Paire won their opener. They beat the 2018 doubles finalists Sander Arends and Matwe Middelkoop 6-3, 6-4.
At the ATP grass-court tournament in Eastbourne, India’s Rohan Bopanna and partner Pablo Cuevas started with a win. They beat Marco Cecchinato and Dusan Lajovic 6-2, 7-5. They will face the Argentinian second seeds Horacio Zeballos and Maximo Gonzalez next.
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