French Open 2019 | Ramkumar Ramanathan gets eliminated in first round of qualification
Getty Images
The 24-year-old faltered in the tournament’s very first hurdle itself losing in straight sets to Australian Jason Kubler. This was a fourth consecutive first round exit for him in the tournament, having gone down to Jay Clarke, Guido Pella, and Matthew Barton in the previous editions.
Even though Ramanathan was seeded 28th in the qualifiers, the 144th ranked Indian suffered a 6-4, 6-4 defeat to the 26-year old Australian in a 92-minute encounter. Going into the match, Ramanathan was considered to be the favourite, as he sat 27 spots above his opponent in ATP rankings.
The result meant Prajnesh Gunneswaran would now be India’s sole representative in the main draw after having qualified by virtue of his top 100 rankings. The final 128-men draw would be after the conclusion of the qualifiers on May 24.
Ramanathan’s best finish at Roland Garros has been a second-round qualifier finish back in 2015, where he had succumbed to American Jared Donaldson. Having bowed out of the Australian Open qualifications in the second round earlier this year, Ramanathan has since reached the quarterfinals of the Taipei and Anning Challenger tournaments, before reaching his first semi-final of the season in Nanchang, where he succumbed to yet another Australian, Jordan Thompson.
Having failed to go past the qualifiers ever since he turned pro, his wait for the first appearance in a Grand Slam continues.
