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Nirupama goes down fighting in Wimbledon qualifier

India's top ranked women's player Nirupama Vaidyanathan lost in the first round of the Wimbledon women's singles qualifying tournament on Tuesday.

Ranked 170 on the WTA rankings, Nirupama put up a good fight before going down to 9th seed Vanessa Webb of Canada 2-6, 7-5, 5-7.

With this, the Indian challenge at Wimbledon now rests on Mahesh Bhupathi, who has wild card entry into the main draw.

Mahesh is drawn to face a qualifier, yet to be determined, in the first round. He is drawn in the same 1/8th of the draw as 15th seed Marat Safin and second seed Andre Agassi. In the second round too he won't face a seeded player as he would be playing the winner of Sargisian - Qualifier match.

Overall, it's not a bad draw for Mahesh.

In the doubles draw, Mahesh Bhupathi and David Prinosil are seeded No 10 and are drawn in the bottom-most quarter, with 7th seeds Damm/Ferreira. The other seeds in the quarter are 16th seeds Carbonnel/Garcia and second seeds Haarhuis/Stolle.

Bhupathi and Prinosil will face Mariano Hood and Sebastien Prieto of Argentina in the first round.