Prakash ousted from French Open qualifiers

Paris:

Prakash Amritraj tested third seed and world number 96 Marcos Daniel before crashing out of the French Open qualifying event, losing the first round match in straight sets here on Tuesday.

The unseeded Indian fought well but missed points at crucial junctures to lose 4-6 4-6 to his Brazilian rival in the clay court Grand Slam.

In a keenly contested first set, both the players fired six aces each but Daniel was more accurate with his first serve and converted the only breakpoint his rival offered to take advantage.

The Indian on the other hand wasted one such opportunity and conceded the lead.

It was imperative for Prakash to get an early break in the second set and stay alive but he failed to do that despite getting a chance in the fourth game.

Daniel was ruthless in his approach and converted second of the two breakpoints in the ninth game to go up 5-4 and served out the set in the next game.

Indian fans will now look to Somdev Devvarman to clear the qualifying hurdle and compete in the men's singles draw.

Somdev, India's number one and world number 138, has been seeded 26th in the qualifying event and will open his campaign against Brazil's world number 223 Joao Souza.