On a day which saw the other Indians in the singles draw, including the National No.1 Ankita Raina, fall by the wayside, Dhruthi Venugopal beat fellow qualifier Katharina Lehnert of the Philippines 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-0 in the first round of the Delhi Open $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Tuesday.
In the pre-quarterfinals, Dhruthi faces seventh seed Tadeja Majeric of Slovenia who did not break a sweat on a warm and windy day in beating her doubles partner Prarthana Thombare.
Meanwhile, Ankita, who was coming off the National Games in Kerala where she won three gold medals, looked unprepared for a return to the tough grind of the professional circuit, going down down 6-4, 6-4 to Olga Savchuk.
The results: First round: Luksika Kumkhum (Tha) bt Erika Sema (Jpn) 6-0, 6-3; Riko Sawayanagi (Jpn) bt Emily Webley Smith (Gbr) 7-6(1), 6-1; Olga Savchuk (Ukr) bt Ankita Raina 6-4, 6-4; Junri Namigata (Jpn) bt Prerna Bhambri 6-2, 6-2; Katy Dunne (Gbr) bt Marie Benoit (Bel) 6-4,5-7, 7-5; Dhruthi Venugopal bt Katharina Lehnert (Phi) 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-0; Tadeja Majeric (Slo) bt Prarthana Thombare 6-2, 6-2; Yang Zhaoxuan (Chn) bt Nicha Lertpitaksinchai (Tha) 7-5, 6-2; Ya-Hsuan Lee (Tpe) bt Karman Kaur Thandi 6-1, 4-6, 6-2; Peangtarn Plipuech (Tha) bt Nidhi Chilumula 6-2, 6-4; Tang Hao Chen (Chn) bt Zhang Ling (Hkg) 6-0, 6-3; Cristina Ene (Rou) bt Sowjanya Bavisetti 6-4, 4-5 retired; MiyuKato (Jpn) bt Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4; Magda Linette (Pol) bt Estelle Cascino (Fra) 7-5, 6-2.
Doubles: Pre-quarterfinals: Tadeja Majeric (Slo) & Prarthana Thombare bt Erika Sema (Jpn) & Anna Smolina (Rus) 6-2, 3-6, 12-10; Tang Hao Chen & Yang Zhaoxuan (Chn) bt Prerna Bhambri & Rashmi Teltumbde 6-3, 6-7(2), 13-11.
