Bengaluru: India’s Ankita Raina and top-seeded Brenda Fruhvirtova of Czech Republic extended their impressive run to enter the singles quarter-finals in the ITF Women’s Open with contrasting wins at the KSLTA Stadium here.
Raina, the No. 4 seed, outclassed Thailand’s Lanlana Tararudee 6-2, 6-1 in a Round-of-16 match without breaking a sweat. The 15-year-old tennis sensation Fruhvirtova, on the other hand, had to go through a three-set grind against Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech before winning it 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
“It was a good match as it was a straight set win. I got my opportunities and took them at the right moment. I had played Lanlana in December last year in India and that was also a straight set win, but a much closer match. The conditions were a bit different here but I settled into the match early and stuck to my aggressive approach and it helped me,” Raina said after the match.
The on-going $40k tournament is hosted by the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) and it is sponsored by KPB Family Trust.
Unseeded Indian Rutuja Bhosale, who had shocked second seeded Valentini Grammatikopoulou on Wednesday, continued her brilliant form, also reaching the quarter-finals with a well-fought 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Diana Marcinkevica of Latvia.
Later, the 26-year-old Bhosale also made it to the doubles semi-finals with her partner Jacqueline Awad as the third-seeded Indo-Swedish duo defeated Saki Imamura and Chia-Yi Tsao 6-4, 6-3 comfortably in the quarter-finals.
However, it was heartbreak for country’s other player, Zeel Desai, who fought bravely but could not overcome Indonesia’s sixth seeded Madelyn Nugroho, going down 7-5, 3-6, 5-7.
Eighth-seeded Eden Silva of Britain too entered the Last-8 with a fluent 6-2, 6-0 win over Japan’s Mei Yamaguchi.
