<p class="title">In-form Prajnesh Gunneswaran inched closer to his maiden Grand Slam appearance with another straight-set win but Ankita Raina and Ramkumar Ramanathan were ousted from the Australian Open Qualifiers after suffering narrow defeats, here on Thursday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Prajnesh, seeded sixth, got the better of Spain's Enrique Lopez Perez 6-3, 6-3 in the men's singles second round.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I played a better match than yesterday and remained solid throughout. I broke three times and there were not too many games where my serve was in danger. I played good mentally as well," Prajnesh told PTI.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I did the right things, attacked when I got chances. I am now looking forward to the final round," he added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The world number 112 will next on Friday take on Japan's Yosuke Watanaki, ranked 192 in the world.</p>.<p class="bodytext">If Prajnesh wins, it will be his first main draw competition at a Grand Slam. He unfortunately missed out on playing at 2018 French Open when as a lucky loser he made the main draw but since he had left Paris and entered a Challenger tournament, he missed out on the chance.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Placed 132 in the world rankings, Ramkumar played a very close match before losing 7-5, 5-7 6-7 (6) to Germany's Rudolf Molleker, ranked 207.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In the women's singles, Asian Games bronze medallist Ankita also had a one-set advantage but went down 6-4, 2-6, 4-6 to Spain's 29th seed Paula Badosa Gibert, world number 142.</p>
<p class="title">In-form Prajnesh Gunneswaran inched closer to his maiden Grand Slam appearance with another straight-set win but Ankita Raina and Ramkumar Ramanathan were ousted from the Australian Open Qualifiers after suffering narrow defeats, here on Thursday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Prajnesh, seeded sixth, got the better of Spain's Enrique Lopez Perez 6-3, 6-3 in the men's singles second round.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I played a better match than yesterday and remained solid throughout. I broke three times and there were not too many games where my serve was in danger. I played good mentally as well," Prajnesh told PTI.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I did the right things, attacked when I got chances. I am now looking forward to the final round," he added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The world number 112 will next on Friday take on Japan's Yosuke Watanaki, ranked 192 in the world.</p>.<p class="bodytext">If Prajnesh wins, it will be his first main draw competition at a Grand Slam. He unfortunately missed out on playing at 2018 French Open when as a lucky loser he made the main draw but since he had left Paris and entered a Challenger tournament, he missed out on the chance.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Placed 132 in the world rankings, Ramkumar played a very close match before losing 7-5, 5-7 6-7 (6) to Germany's Rudolf Molleker, ranked 207.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In the women's singles, Asian Games bronze medallist Ankita also had a one-set advantage but went down 6-4, 2-6, 4-6 to Spain's 29th seed Paula Badosa Gibert, world number 142.</p>