$10,000 ITF Women’s Futures: India’s Ankita Raina storms into singles quarters

Top-seed Ankita Raina of India breezed into the singles quarterfinals of the $10,000 Lucknow Women’s Futures tennis tournament being played at the Oudh Gymkhana Club Tennis Complex in Lucknow.

The 524th ranked Indian, who is riding high on confidence after clinching the Chennai Futures last week, made mincemeat of fellow countrywoman Preethi Ujjini 6-1, 6-0 to make it to the last-eight stage.

The Gujarat girl, who is now based in Pune, broke Preethi’s serve early to pave the way for a facile opening set win at 6-1.

The script followed a similar pattern in the second set as Ankita towered over her opponent. Preethi let herself down by repeatedly failing to hold her serve.

Ankita broke Preethi’s serve at will to close out the second set at love to march into the quarterfinals on a bullish note.

Earlier, Ankita, who finished runners-up in the two ITF Futures tourneys in Hyderabad last March, made a whirlwind beginning to her campaign in the Lucknow event, trouncing another fellow Indian Anushka Bhargava 6-0, 6-1.

Second seed Nidhi Chilumula overcame Sharon Sanchana Paul 6-3, 7-6 (5) to make it to the singles quarterfinals.

Third seed Prarthana G. Thombare eased past Mahitha Dadi Reddy 6-4, 6-3, while fourth seed Shweta Rana outlasted Smriti Joon 6-3, 6-4.

Sixth seed Eetee Maheta prevailed over Damini Sharma 6-4, 6-4.

Eighth seed Emi Mutaguchi of Japan pipped Bhuvana Kalva 6-0, 6-3. Mutaguchi is the lone foreign player left in the fray.

Only three foreign players made it to the main draw – Australia’s Angelique Svinos, who was seeded seventh in this event, bowed out in the first round, losing 3-6, 5-7 to India’s Simran Kaur Sethi.

China’s Wang XI-Yao also crashed out in the opening round, suffering a 4-6, 3-6 defeat at the hands of Sharon Sanchana Paul of India.

Earleir, the $10,000 ITF Futures women’s tennis tournament was dealt a big blow after around 80 foreign players pulled out.

The foreign players decided to give the ongoing $10,000 ITF Futures women’s tennis tournament a miss on account of security concerns. The players have been told by their respective governments to participate in the Lucknow event at their own risk.

The foreign players were wary of the crime graph of the state as well as the sense of insecurity that may prevail in those conditions. The recent outpouring of anger against growing cases of rape against women could have also played a part in the players’ withdrawal.

The All India Tennis Association (AITA) has downplayed the players’ withdrawal and termed it as a ‘routine.’