Ramkumar, Ankita advance to 2nd round of Australian Open Qualifiers

Melbourne, Jan 10: Indian tennis players Ramkumar Ramanathan and Ankita Raina advanced to the second round of the Australian Open Qualifiers after recording wins in their respective singles draws.

Ramkumar, who is yet to make a Grand Slam main draw appearance, ousted 10th seed Argentine Facundo Bagnis with a hard-fought 7-6(6) 7-5 victory in one hour and 53 minutes in men's singles first round.

In the women's singles, Ankita outplayed Hungary's Reka-Luca Jani 6-2 6-2 in 67 minutes. Sumit Nagal has already been awarded a wild card entry into the men's singles main draw.