Prajnesh loses in Oz Open Qualifiers Round 2, Bhambri the sole hope now

Prajnesh Gunneswaran bowed out of the Australian Open Qualifiers with a second-round defeat against Germany’s Maximilian Marterer here on Wednesday.

Up against a rival who serves big but is positioned seven places below him at 228 in the world, the left-handed Prajnesh lost 2-6, 6-7(8) in one hour and 26 minutes.

Following Prajnesh’s defeat to Marterer, comeback man Yuki Bhambri is the lone Indian survivor in the qualifying stage. The 29-year-old Bhambri will have his task cut out in the second round on Thursday when he comes up against World No.130 Tomas Machac of Czech Republic. It is to be recalled that Ramkumar Ramanathan and Ankita Raina went down in the men’s singles and women’s singles opening round, respectively, on Tuesday.