The Indian challenge at the QNet Open $50,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament ended on Wednesday as Ankita Raina, Rishika Sunkara and Prerna Bhambri exited the singles event while the pair of Arantxa Andrady and Rishika was knocked out in the doubles quarterfinals.
In the singles round of 16, Ankita and Rishika threatened for a while before fading away. In fairness, the former’s challenge sustained for a longer period.
Rishika’s fall was dramatic. After winning the opening set 6-4 against Thailand’s Nicha Lertpitaksinchai, the Indian qualifier was bageled in the second set within 18 minutes. There was very little fight in the decider too as Nicha dropped only one game.
Ankita lost in straight sets to third seed Marina Melnikova but there was not a lot that separated the two. In both sets, the Indian broke twice to recover a 1-4 deficit but lost consecutive games thereafter as she finished on the wrong end of a 6-4, 6-4 scoreline.
“Even when I levelled the score, she remained mentally strong. I was a bit hesitant at the start but later I became more aggressive. I don’t get nervous anymore, no matter what the situation,” said Ankita.
Marina was joined by sixth seed Sabina Sharipova in the quarters but only after a battle against Jia-Jing Lu that lasted two hours and 45 minutes.
The results:
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Patricia Mayr-Achleitner (Aut) bt Margarita Lazareva (Rus) 6-4, 6-3; Barbara Haas (Aut) bt Harmony Tan (Fra) 3-6, 6-4, 2-0 retd.; Marina Melnikova (Rus) bt Ankita Raina 6-4, 6-4; Elise Mertens (Bel) bt Maria Sakkari (Gre) 6-3, 6-1; Nicha Lertpitaksinchai (Tha) bt Rishika Sunkara 4-6, 6-0, 6-1; Ivana Jorovic (Srb) bt Tara Moore (Gbr) 7-5, 6-2; Sabina Sharipova (Uzb) bt Jia-Jing Lu (Chn) 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(2); Anastasiya Vasylyeva (Ukr) bt Prerna Bhambri 6-2, 6-4.
Doubles: Quarterfinals: Nicha Lertpitaksinchai & Peangtarn Plipuech (Tha) bt Emily Webley-Smith (Gbr) & Prarthana Thombare 7-5, 7-6(4); Chang Liu & Jia-Jing Lu (Chn) bt Kamonwan Buayam (Tha) & Sabina Sharipova (Uzb) 7-6(3), 6-1; Margarita Lazareva (Rus) & Anastasiya Vasylyeva (Ukr) bt Ching-Wen Hsu (Tpe) & Xi-Yao Wang (Chn) 6-4, 6-2; Marina Melnikova (Rus) & Elise Mertens (Bel) bt Arantxa Andrady & Rishika Sunkara 6-1, 6-1. — Principal Correspondent
