Ankita Raina blasted her way past fifth-seeded Sofia Shapatava of Georgia 6-4, 6-1 in the semifinals of the $60,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Luan, China, on Saturday.
The 24-year-old Ankita, who beat the sixth and third seeds earlier, will challenge top-seeded Lin Zhu of China.
“I had my plan as I had been practising with her through this week. She plays aggressive and fast. I had to be patient and wait before I attacked,’’ said Ankita.
Ankita has a 0-2 record against Lin Zhu. “I lost a close match in Fed Cup. So, I am looking forward to the final,’’ said Ankita.
Davis Cupper Sumit Nagal cruised into the title round of the $25,000 ITF men’s Futures in Romania, in which he had to negotiate two rounds of qualifying.
Sumit blanked top-seeded Gregoire Jaco of France in the quarterfinals.
The results:
ATP Tour, Geneva, Switzerland: Doubles (semifinals): Jean-Julien Rojer (Ned) & Horia Tecau (Rou) bt
Scott Lipsky (US) & Leander Paes 6-3, 3-6, 10-3.
$60,000 ITF women, Luan, China (semifinals): Ankita Raina bt Sofia Shapatava (Geo) 6-4, 6-1.
$25,000 ITF men, Bacau, Romania (semifinals): Sumit Nagal bt Frederico Ferreira Silva (Por) 6-2, 6-2; Quarterfinals: Sumit Nagal bt Gregoire Jaco (Fra) 6-0, 6-0;
Pre-quarterfinals: Sumit bt Carlos Gomez-Herrera (Esp) 7-6(2), 6-3; First round: Sumit bt Nicolae Frunza (Rou) 6-2 (retired).
$15,000 ITF men, Singapore (quarterfinals): Nam Hoang Ly (Vie) bt Vijay Sundar Prashanth 7-6(7), 6-3.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Issei Okamura & Arata Onozawa (Jpn) bt Nam Hoang Ly (Vie) & Vijay Sundar 4-6, 6-4, 12-10.
