London, June 23

India's Ramkumar Ramanathan stands just one win away from his maiden Grand Slam appearance after he progressed to the final round of the Wimbledon qualifiers with a straight-set win over Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

Ramkumar, who gradually slipped out of the top-200 for lack of good results, beat his Argentine rival 6-3 6-4.

The Indian, now ranked 211, did not face a single break point in the match and broke Etcheverry, ranked 204, twice in the second-round match that lasted 59 minutes. The 26-year old now needs to beat Australia's 32nd seed Marc Polmans, ranked 152.

The closest he has come to qualifying for a Major before this effort was in 2018 when he reached the third round of the Australian Open qualifiers.

Ankita bows out

Ankita Raina's attempt to qualify for the women's singles main draw of Wimbledon failed after she went down in the first round of the qualifiers.

The 28-year-old lost 6-3 7-6(1) to a higher-ranked American Varvara Lepchenko in one hour 22 minutes late Tuesday night.

Unable to hold her serve in the opening set, the Indian came back strongly in the second before being completely outplayed (7-1) in the tiebreak. Ankita, ranked 182, had only one break point in the match, which she failed to convert. Prajnesh Gunneswaran had already exited the qualifiers.

Gauff beaten by Sevastova

London: American teenager Coco Gauff's Wimbledon preparations suffered a blip as she bowed out of the Eastbourne tournament today, losing to Latvian Anastasija Sevastova 4-6 7-5 6-2.

The 17-year-old came back after losing the opening eight games the previous evening against seventh seed Elise Mertens, but this time she succumbed after leading. Sevastova, a lucky loser from qualifying, cruised through the deciding set as Gauff's game went off the boil.

She will face Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina next after she knocked out Ukraine's Elina Svitolina in straight sets.

Former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko showed signs of coming back to her best form as she knocked out Tunisia's Ons Jabeur, winner of last week's WTA event in Birmingham. Ostapenko, who is playing doubles at Eastbourne with Gauff, won 5-7 6-4 6-3. Qualifier Camila Giorgi reached the third round after beating American Shelby Rogers.

On Tuesday, Fourth-seeded Iga Swiatek battled back to defeat home favourite Heather Watson in three sets and earn her first career main draw win on grass. Swiatek won 6-3 6-7 (4) 7-5 after trailing 4-1 in the deciding set.

Meanwhile, second-seeded Elina Svitolina beat French Open quarterfinalist Paula Bedosa 4-6 6-1 7-6 (1). The 2019 Wimbledon semifinalist from Ukraine next faces Elena Rybakina, who was also pushed to three sets before defeating British player Harriet Dart 6-2 6-7 (5) 6-4. Third-seeded Bianca Andreescu, looking to bounce back from early exits in the French Open and German Open, overcame the US qualifier Christina McHale 6-4 2-6 6-2. The 24th-ranked Ons Jabeur earned her tour-leading 29th win this year by beating Czech player Marketa Vondrousova 6-3 7-6 (4). Jabeur has a second round match against Jelena Ostapenko after the Latvian beat Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1 6-3. — Agencies

Thiem retires injured from Mallorca match

Mallorca: Fifth-ranked Dominic Thiem retired from his match at the grass-court Mallorca Championships because of pain in his right wrist, less than a week before the start of Wimbledon. The 27-year-old Austrian was leading 5-2 against Adrian Mannarino, but he grimaced and clutched his wrist after striking a forehand on Tuesday. The US Open champion received a medical timeout and had the wrist taped but opted not to continue. ap