Prerna off in fine fashion

Top seed Prerna Bhambri entered the second round of the RGUHS ITF Kalaburagi Open, trouncing China’s Xi-Yao Wang in straight sets here on Tuesday.

Eyeing a hat-trick of titles, Prerna hardly broke sweat in defeating Xi-Yao 6-1, 6-1 at the Chandrashekar Patil stadium.

Seventh seed Eetee Maheta sailed past qualifier Sindhu Janagam 6-3, 6-2 while third seed Druthi Tatachar bested Varunya Chandrashekar 6-2, 6-0.

Karnataka’s Sharmadaa Baluu, seeded fifth, retired from her match against Sneha Padmata after one game because of an ankle injury.

First round results (prefix denotes seeding, Indians unless mentioned): Sahan Shetty bt Bhargavi Nitin Mangudkar 6-0, 6-1; 7-Eetee Maheta bt Sindhu Janagam 6-3, 6-2; Sneha Padamata bt 5-Sharrmadaa Baluu 1-0 (retired); Shweta Rana bt Amrita Mukherjee 6-0, 5-7, 7-6 (4); Sai Samhitha Chamarthi bt Arthi Muniyan 6-1, 6-0; 1-Prerna Bhambri bt Xi-Yao Wang (Chn) 6-1, 6-1; 3-Druthi Tatachar Venugopal bt Varunya Chandrashekar 6-2, 6-0.

Doubles (round of 16): 2-Nidhi Chilumula/ Eetee Maheta bt Sindhu Janagam/ Amreen Naaz 6-0, 6-1; Riya Bhatia/ Shweta Rana bt Sri Sai Shivani/ Sahan Shetty 6-3, 6-0; Tamachan Momkoonthod/ Plobrung Plipuech (Tha) bt Amrita Mukherjee/ Sansriti Ranjan 6-2, 6-1.