Sanam qualifies for singles main draw

Sanam Singh qualified for the men's singles main draw of the Asia-Pacific Australian Open wild card play-off tournament after edging past Yuqing Ning in a tough three-setter and entered the doubles quarter-finals with compatriot N Sriram Balaji Nanjing on Wednesday.

The top seeded Indian overcame a late resistance from the lower-ranked Yuging to carve out a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in the fourth and final round at Nanjing Sports Institute.

Sanam has joined Yuki Bhambri, Vishnu Vardhan and Balaji in the men's singles main draw.

Sanam, ranked 360, will face fourth seed Ze Zhang (ranked 154) in his opening round of the main draw.

If Sanam win his match, he may face compatriot and doubles partner Balaji, who is up against Di Wu of China.

Playing in the men's doubles main draw later in the day, Sanam and Balaji made the winning start, beating China's Zhaoyi Cao and Andy Lau of Hong Kong 6-3, 6-1.

The Indian pair of Vishnu and Purav Raja has also moved to the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-2 win over local pair of Yuqing Ning and Zhuoyang Qiu.

On Thursday in the men's singles, Yuki Bhambri (179) faces Uzbekistan's Farrukh Dustov (231), who had beaten the young Indian at the Asia Oceania Davis Cup tie early this year, in his first round match.

Vardhan will take on Tapei's Hsin-Han Lee.

National champion Prerna Bhambri is India's lone entry in the women's singles event and she will open her campaign against China's Yifan Xu.

The winners of this tournament will get wild card entry into the 2013 Australian Open main draw.