India’s No 1. ranked tennis player Prajnesh Gunneswaran on Friday defeated Japan's Yosuke Watanuki 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4 in the third round of the Australian Open qualifiers to advance to the main draw.
Prajnesh will face Frances Tiafoe of the United States in the first round. If he wins, he is likely to meet Kevin Anderson in the next round.
In 2018, Prajnesh qualified for the main draw of French Open as the lucky loser, but could not participate as he had already registered to play a Challenger tournament in Paris.
Other Indian players such as Ramkumar Ramanathan, Ankita Raina and Karman Kaur Thandi failed to cross the qualifiers.