KPB Trust ITF Women's Open: India's Ankita Raina, Rutuja Bhosale reach quarter-finals

Zeel Desai lost to sixth-seed Indonesian Madelyn Nugroho.

India’s Ankita Raina and top-seeded Brenda Fruhvirtova of Czech Republic extended their impressive run to enter the singles quarter-finals in the KPB Trust ITF Women’s Open with contrasting wins at the KSLTA Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday.

Raina, the No. 4 seed, outclassed Thailand’s Lanlana Tararudee 6-2, 6-1 in a Round-of-16 match without breaking a sweat. The 15-year-old tennis sensation Fruhvirtova, on the other hand, had to go through a three-set grind against Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech before winning it 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

“It was a good match as it was a straight-set win. I got my opportunities and took them at the right moment. I had played Lanlana in December last year in India and that was also a straight-set win, but a much closer match. The conditions were a bit different here but I settled into the match early and stuck to my aggressive approach and it helped me,” Raina said after the match.

The ongoing $40k tournament is hosted by the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) and it is sponsored by KPB Family Trust.

Unseeded Indian Rutuja Bhosale, who had shocked second-seeded Valentini Grammatikopoulou on Wednesday, continued her brilliant form, also reaching the quarter-finals with a well-fought 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Diana Marcinkevica of Latvia.

Later, the 26-year-old Bhosale also made it to the doubles semi-finals with her partner Jacqueline Awad as the third-seeded Indo-Swedish duo defeated Saki Imamura and Chia-Yi Tsao 6-4, 6-3 comfortably in the quarter-finals.

However, it was heartbreak for the country’s other player, Zeel Desai, who fought bravely but could not overcome Indonesia’s sixth-seeded Madelyn Nugroho, going down 7-5, 3-6, 5-7.

Eighth-seeded Eden Silva of Britain too entered the Last-8 with a fluent 6-2, 6-0 win over Japan’s Mei Yamaguchi.

“I am really happy with the way I played my match today. I had very good focus from the first point to the last point. I knew it was not going to be an easy match because she [Yamaguchi] has played three matches and won all three, so she was in good form. But I stuck to my game and served well today, which helped me a lot,” said Eden after the match.