KPB Trust ITF Women’s Open: Ankita Raina, Rutuja Bhosale storm into singles semis

Both players will meet each other in an all-Indian semi-final on Saturday.

India’s Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale displayed immense tenacity while etching three-set wins to reach the singles semi-finals of the KPB Trust ITF Women’s Open at the KSLTA Stadium in Bengaluru on Friday.

Raina, fourth seed in the tournament, fought past Dea Herdzelas of Bosnia And Herzegovina 6-1, 6-7 (7), 7-5 while Bhosale overcame eighth seeded Briton Eden Silva 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

Raina will face Bhosale in an all-Indian semi-final on Saturday.

The ongoing $40k tournament—a part of the ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour, is hosted by the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) and it is sponsored by KPB Family Trust.

Earlier, top-seeded Brenda Fruhvirtova of Czech Republic also entered the semi-finals with a 6-0, 7-5 victory over Indonesia’s sixth-seeded Madelyne Nugroho. The No. 5 seed Dalila Jakupovic also registered an easy 6-2, 6-0 win against Ikumi Yamazaki in the other quarter-final.

“The first set was going pretty easy and fast and in the second I was leading 5-3 but I didn’t really use my chances. Then at 5-5 I broke her serve and then I held my serve to win the match. I am happy that it was not a three-set match because physically I was not 100 percent — probably because of the matches and the heat as well. I am happy that I have eased through,” said Fruhvirtova after her win.

Later in the day, Bhosale and her Swedish partner Jacqueline Awad went down to No. 1 seeded Portuguese pair of Jorge Fransica and Jorge Matilde 6-2, 3-6, 8-10 in the doubles semi-final.

Fransica-Matilde will face Greco-British pair of Valentini Grammatikopoulou and Eden Silva in the final on Saturday. Grammatikopoulou and Silva defeated Dalila Jakupovic of Slovakia and Amandine Hesse of France 6-1, 6-3.