Zeel, Rutuja battle through to semis

Bengaluru: Zeel Desai and Rutuja Bhosale churned out impressive performances to make the semifinals, while in contrast, it was smooth sailing for Lanlana Tararudee and Rashmikaa Shrivalli Bhamidipaty in the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour at Bowring Institute here on Friday. 

Zeel, who beat top seed Nigina Abduraimova on Thursday, picked up where she left off, defeating higher-ranked German Antonia Schmidt 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-4 in their quarterfinal clash on court one.

Both players immediately exchanged breaks in a pulsating start to the contest. Zeel had a spring in her step. Her court coverage and shot selection shone through as she went on to break twice and nab the first set.

Zeel had to dig deep to hold serve, but Antonia managed to break at 3-3. The German’s joy was shortlived as a sequence of unforced errors helped Zeel level things up at 4-4.

With two pin-point winners down the line, Antonia forced a second set tie-break which she went on to win in dominant fashion.

Zeel came back firing with a double break in the third set, pinning Antonia back with her powerful groundstrokes, and raced to victory.

Third seed Rutuja defeated her doubles partner Zhibek Kulambayeva 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-1 in an absorbing tie. 

Both players were engaged in a compelling first set that went down to the wire. Rutuja came up trumps in the tie-breaker, surging ahead with a booming forehand, and sealed the set by pounding in a pacy backhand.

Zhibek held serve under pressure by placing a backhand winner to perfection, and rode the momentum to clinch a comfortable double break. Despite Rutuja staging a fight, the fifth seed from Uzbekistan powered on to level things up at one set all.

Egged on by her coaching team, Rutuja managed some tricky holds with her trusty forehand aiding her.

Rutuja then began dominating the rallies, and a frustrated Zhibek cracked under pressure to concede another break while trailing 1-4. A gleeful Rutuja plugged away to seal the contest and book a semifinal tie with Zeel.

National champion Rashmikaa Shrivalli Bhamidipaty, who eased past Vaishnavi Adkar 6-1, 6-4, will take on second seed Lanlana Tararudee in the other semifinal. The Thai player beat seventh seed Diletta Cherubini 6-1, 6-2. 

Results (All Indians unless mentioned, prefix denotes seeding): Women’s singles (Quarterfinals):  Rashmikaa Shrivalli Bhamidipaty bt Vaishnavi Adkar 6-1, 6-4; Zeel Desai bt Antonia Schmidt (GER) 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-4; 2-Lanlana Tararudee (THA) bt 7-Diletta Cherubini (ITA) 6-1, 6-2; 3-Rutuja Bhosale bt 5-Zhibek Kulambayeva (KAZ) 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-1.

Doubles (Semifinals): Diletta Cherubini (ITA)/ Antonia Schmidt (GER) bt 3-Rashmikaa Shrivally Bhamidipaty/ Vaidehi Chaudhari 0-6, 6-0, 10-3; 1-Rutuja Bhosale/ Zhibek Kulambayeva (KAZ) vs 4-Punnin Kovapitukted (THA)/ Anna Ureke 2-6, 0-0 (interrupted by bad light and rain).