JOIN USLeading seeds breezed through their opening rounds in the $10,000 ITF women’s singles event at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) complex on Tuesday.
Top seed and the winner here earlier this month, Ankita Raina barely broke sweat in beating Sanya Madan 6-1, 6-0 while fourth-seeded Nidhi Chilumula raced through her match against Damini Sharma for a 6-1, 6-1 victory.
Sixth-seeded Eetee Maheta, who was a finalist here in the previous tournament, gave proof of her rising confidence with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over wildcard Arushi Bhasin and next plays another wildcard Vaniya Dangwal. Dangwal showed the door to qualifier Smriti Jain, winning 6-4, 6-2.
Left-handed Sowjanya Bavisetti gave a good account of herself against Chinese Taipei’s Ching-Wen Hsu before losing her way.
The 19-year-old retired in the third set while trailing 6-3, 1-6, 0-2 because of dizziness. Hsu now plays Ankita in the pre-quarterfinals on Wednesday.
It was also a smooth sailing for fifth-seeded Shweta Rana who swept aside qualifier Sai Samhitha Chamarthi 6-2, 6-3 and now faces Bhuvana Kalva. Bhuvana made short work of her match wildcard Nishtha Dudeja 6-1, 6-0.
Seventh-seeded Natasha Palha bt Sharon Sanchana Paul 6-4, 6-1 to take on Simran Kaur Sethi in hr next round clash.
Results (first round, Indians unless mentioned): 1-Ankita Raina bt Sanya Madan 6-1, 6-0; Kanika Vaidya bt Namita Bal 6-0, 6-0; 8-Naomi Totka (Hun) bt Anjana Kompally 6-2, 6-1; Sharmada Balu bt Aandrita Deb 6-4, 6-2; Ching-Wen Hsu (Tpe) bt Sowjanya Bavisetti 3-6, 6-1, 2-0 (retd); Shruti Dhawan bt Amrita Mukherjee 6-0, 3-1 (retd); Simran Kaur Sethi bt Ambika Pande 6-0 (retd); 6-Eetee Maheta bt Arushi Bhasin 6-0, 6-0; 5-Shweta Rana bt Sai Samhitha Chamarthi 6-2, 6-3; Sneha Padamata bt Shivika Burman 7-6 (9-7), 6-2; Vaniya Dangwal bt Smriti Joon 6-4, 6-2; Natasha Palha bt Sharon Sanchana Paul 6-4, 6-1.