Roland Garros 2020: Prajnesh Gunneswaran enters second round of qualifying, Sumit Nagal, Ramkumar Ramanathan exit

Paris: Indian tennis player Prajnesh Gunneswaran overcame a sluggish start to advance to the second round of the French Open men’s singles qualifying event but country’s top player Sumit Nagal bowed out after a close defeat, on Monday. Later, Ramkumar Ramanathan, too, joined Nagal for the exit door. The lone Indian woman in Paris, Ankita Raina, takes court on Tuesday. Seeded 16th, Nagal — who became the first Indian in seven years to win a singles match at a Grand Slam with his opening-round victory at the US Open — lost 6-7 (4) 5-7 to Germany’s seasoned player Dustin Brown in one hour and 47 minutes. Nagal had his chances in the second set as he was leading 3-0 but Brown did not let him continue with the momentum. Prajnesh, India’s second-highest ranked singles player, got the better of Turkey’s Cem Ilkel 6-3, 6-1 after losing his service early in his opening qualifier of the clay-court Grand Slam. Ramanathan was bidding to qualify for his maiden Grand Slam singles main draw. But his attempt fell flat after his straight sets defeat against French  wildcard Tristan Lamasine. The Indian Davis Cupper, ranked 198, lost 5-7 2-6 to lower-ranked Lamasine in one hour and 27 minutes. The 25-year-old Ramkumar was profligate as he squandered as many as seven of the eight breakpoints he earned. He lost his serve four times in the first round contest. Ramkumar has been trying to crack the Grand Slam main draws since 2015 but has not succeeded yet. Making the third round at the Australian Open qualifiers in 2018 has been his best effort so far. In the women’s singles qualifiers, Raina, ranked 176, will open her campaign against Serbia’s Jovana Jovic, ranked 234.