Prajnesh falls at final hurdle at French Open qualifiers

Paris: Prajnesh Gunneswaran will have to wait for his maiden appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam as he could not cross the final hurdle at the French Open qualifiers, suffering a straight set defeat against Elias Ymer, here today.

The left-handed Prajnesh, ranked 183, lost 3-6 4-6 in the third and final round against the Swede, ranked 122 in the world.

“I played very passive. I don’t know why? I had too many chances but did not convert. should have converted and created more,” a dejected Prajnesh told PTI.

“I didn’t play aggressive enough and it cost me the match. I took just one of the nine breakpoints. It’s difficult to win with such statistics. At this level, I have to be realistic,” the 28-year-old from Chennai said. 

Yuki Bhambri is thus the only Indian featuring in the singles main draw at Roland Garros this year with Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal biting the dust in the Qualifiers.

Ankita Raina had also made an early exit from the women’s singles qualifiers. So, none of the Indians could come through the qualifiers at Roland Garros this year.

Yuki, ranked 94, earned a direct entry due to his presence in top-100 and will make his maiden appearance at the clay court Grand Slam.