Prajnesh advances in Winston Salem Open as Bopanna-Sharan crash out

India's top single's player Prajnesh Gunneswaran advanced to the second round of the Winston Salem Open ATP 250 tournament with a straight-set win over Cedrik-Marcel Stebe here. Prajnesh, ranked 89th in the world, beat his German rival 6-3 6-4 in a match that lasted one hour and 13 minutes on Sunday night.

The Indian utilised two of the five break points he earned while holding his serve throughout the match. He will next face top seed Benoit Paire of France, who received a first-round bye. Paire is ranked 30 in the world.

The Indian will fancy his chances in the next round as earlier this year, Prajnesh had stunned Paire at the Indian Wells ATP Masters event for one of the biggest wins of his career. In the doubles event, the Indian pair of Divij Sharan and Rohan Bopanna crashed out in the first round.

The Indian duo lost to American pair of Nicholas Monroe Tennys Sandgren 3-6 3-6. Meanwhile, wild card entrants Leander Paes and his Israeli partner Jonathan Erlich will take on the duo of Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the opening round.