AUS Open Qualifying: Prajnesh a win away from main draw

Prajnesh Gunneswaran kept the Indian flag flying at Melbourne Park by advancing to the third and final round of the singles qualifying event at the Australian Open. The world number 112 and India's top-ranked male player took just 1 hour and 14 minutes to dispatch Spain's Enrique Lopez Perez 6-3, 6-3 in the second round.Now, in order to compete in the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time, Prajnesh, the 6th seed, will have to find a way to go past Japan's Yosuke Watanuki in the final qualifying round.Meanwhile, India's other two players - Ankita Raina and Ramkumar Ramanathan, failed to progress to the third and final qualifying round on Thursday.The top-ranked Indian women's player Ankita Raina failed to capitalise on a one-set lead against 29th seed Paula Badosa Gibert of Spain and lost 6-4, 2-6, 4-6 in 2 hours and 5 miinutes in the second round.In the penultimate round of the men's singles event, the second-best ranked Indian player and 21st seed - Ramkumar, also failed to take advantage of a one-set lead and lost 7-5, 5-7, 6-7 (6) to Germany's Rudolf Molleker.

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