JOIN USAnkita, Prarthana bow out
The Indian campaign in the ITF Bidar Open Women’s futures tennis championship came to an end after Ankita Raina and Prarthana Thombare suffered defeats in the semifinals on Friday.
Wing Yau Venise Chan accounted for Ankita as the top seed posted a facile 6-3, 6-2 win, while Japan’s Yumi Miyazaki got the better of Prarthana 6-4, 6-2 in the last-four stage at the Police Training School courts.
Chan had the measure of Ankita with her solid ground strokes and timely volleys. Ankita dropped the first set after conceding breaks in the fifth, seventh and ninth games though she made a belated bid, cracking Chan in the eighth game but it was too late then as Chan took the first set 6-3.
Ankita, who took a medical time-out towards the end of the second set, was given a reprieve by heavy showers which resulted in loss of play for little under two hours.
However, she failed to make the most of the break and slumped to a 1-4 deficit. Ankita broke Chan, who was serving for the match in the seventh game, but the latter held her own to wrap up the second set and the match.
In the second semifinal, the two unseeded players showed grit and guile, but Miyazaki was better at making most of the chances that came her way.
Prarthana stumbles
Prarthana had her chances but she let them slip away as a determined Miyazaki made sure that she did not concede any easy points despite the fact that she made as many as eight double faults.
In the first set, Prarthana did well to break her rival in the first game but dropped her own serve in the fourth. Miyazaki wasted five break points in the sixth game as Prarthana was stretched to five deuces but the Japanese girl kept piling on the pressure, breaking Prarthana in the tenth game to seal the set.
Miyazaki maintained the momentum and outclassed Prarthana in the second set to book a berth in the final.
Meanwhile, India’s Rishika Sunkara and her Ukrainian partner Oleksandra Korashvilli won the doubles competition. They beat the third-seeded pair of Nungadda Wannasuk and Nan-Nan Zheng 6-4, 7-5 in the final.
Results (semifinals): Wing Yau Venise Chan (Hkg) bt Ankita Raina (Ind) 6-3, 6-2; Yumi Miyazaki (Jpn) bt Prarthana Thombare (Ind) 6-4, 6-2.
Doubles (final): Rishika Sunkara (Ind)/ Oleksandra Korashvilli (Ukr) bt Nungadda Wannasuk (Tha)/ Nan-Nan Zheng (Chn) 6-4, 7-5.