Ankita Raina made a good start in the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Fergana, Uzbekistan, as she won both her singles and doubles matches on Wednesday.
The fourth-seeded Ankita fought her way past Ekaterina Yashina of Russia 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 in the singles. Later, in combination with Sabina Sharipova of Uzbekistan, she upset the top-seeded Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan and Ekaterina Yashina in the pre-quarterfinals.
Sharmadaa Baluu also won her singles first round to set up a clash with the second-seeded Nao Hibino of Japan.
Jeevan bows out Meanwhile, in the concurrently held $50,000 ATP Challenger tournament, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan was beaten in straight sets in the pre-quarterfinals by the eighth-seeded Alexander Lobkov of Russia.
The results: $25,000 ITF women’s tournament: Singles (first round): Ekaterine Gorgodze (Geo) bt Rishika Sunkara 6-3, 6-1; Ankita Raina bt Ekaterina Yashina (Rus) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1; Margarita Lazareva (Rus) bt Prarthana Thombare 6-3, 6-4; Sharmadaa Baluu bt Wang Xi-Yao (Chn) 6-2, 6-2.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sabina Sharipova (Uzb) & Ankita Raina bt Anna Danilina (Kaz) & Ekaterina Yashina (Rus) 3-6, 7-6(2), 10-8.
$50,000 ATP Challenger: Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Alexander Lobkov (Rus) bt Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 6-4, 6-4.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Nicolas Barrientos (Col) & Stanislav Vovk (Rus) bt Ti Chen (Tpe) & Sriram Balaji 7-5, 7-6(4).
Parul, Jafreen win silver Parul Gupta and Jafreen Shaik won the silver medal in girls’ doubles tennis in the Open Deaf Youth Tennis Cup held recently in Hamburg, Germany.
Parul and Jafreen were beaten 6-1, 4-6, 10-2 in the final by the Russian pair of Anastasia Grin and Poina Smimova.
