Ankita Raina battled her way past Ellen Allgurin of Sweden 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the $15,000 ITF women's tennis tournament here on Thursday. Ankita, seeded second, was the only Indian to make the semifinals as qualifier Bhuvana Kalva and Natasha Palha lost to top-seeded Sofia Shapatava and fourth-seeded Emily Webley Smith.
Ankita will be challenged by qualifier Anastasiya Komardina of Russia who recovered from the brink of defeat to oust Margarita Lazareva of Russia 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4. Natasha Palha did well to win Wednesday’s unfinished match against Silvia Njiric of Croatia, but lost her quarterfinal clash with Emily Webley Smith.
In the doubles, Rushmi Chakravarthi and Nidhi Chilumula set up a title clash against second-seeded Ankita Raina and Webley Smith.
The results: Quarterfinals: Sofia Shapatava (Geo) bt Bhuvana Kalva 6-3, 7-6(3); Emily Webley Smith (GBR) bt Natasha Palha 6-1, 6-3; Anastasiya Komardina (Rus) bt Margarita Lazareva (Rus) 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4; Ankita Raina bt Ellen Allgurin (Swe) 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Pre-quaterfinals: Natasha Palha bt Silvia Njiric (Cro) 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(5).
Doubles: Semifinals: Rushmi Chakravarthi & Nidhi Chilumula bt Katie Boulter & Katy Dunne (GBR) 6-2, 6-2; Ankita Raina & Emily Webley Smith bt Diana Bogoliy (Ukr) & Polina Leykina (Rus) 6-1, 6-2.
Quarterfinals: Katie Boulter & Katy Dunne (GBR) bt Margarita Lazareva (Rus) & Sofia Shapatava (Geo) 5-7, 6-2, 10-8; Rushmi Chakravarthi & Nidhi Chilumula bt Ellen Allgurin (Swe) & Silvia Njiric (Cro) 6-2, 6-1; Diana Bogoliy (Ukr) & Polina Leykina (Rus) bt Manon Arcangioli & Chloe Paquet (Fra) 3-6, 6-4, 10-6.