Vardhan-Balaji, Nedunchezhiyan enter Wimbledon main draw

The Indian combination of Vishnu Vardhan and N. Sriram Balaji qualified for the main draw of the men's doubles category at the Wimbledon tennis championship along with compatriot Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan here on Wednesday.

Vardhan and Balaji beat Igor Zelenay of Slovakia and Ukrainian Denys Molchanov 6-3, 6-4 in the Wimbledon qualifiers.

Nedunchezhiyan, who partnered American Austin Krajicek, carved out a 7-6, 6-3 victory over the English pair of Edward Corrie and Lloyd Glasspool.

Vardhan and Balaji will be making their debut appearance in the Wimbledon main draw. Nedunchezhiyan, meanwhile, will be making his second appearance.

There was however, heartbreak in store for Ankita Raina in the women's singles as she lost a hard-fought three-set battle to Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia.

Ankita gave a good account of herself before going down 2-6, 7-5, 4-6 to the world number 132 in a contest that went on for two hour and 23 minutes.

--IANS

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