Indians eye strong finish to season as ITF women's tennis tournament begins in Mumbai

It will be a nice chance for the Indian players to finish the season on a high, even though none of them gets a seeding in the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament that begins on Tuesday.

FILE PHOTO: Pranjala Yadlapalli has been grappling with an injury and will be up against Vaidehi.

It will be a nice chance for the Indian players to finish the season on a high, even though none of them gets a seeding in the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament that begins at the Ganesh Naik Complex on Tuesday.

The presence of Riya Bhatia should lend an edge to the Indian aspirations, along with the other direct entrants Zeel Desai, Sowjanya Bavisetti, Rutuja Bhosale, Vaidehi Chaudhari and Pranjala Yadlapalli.

Riya may have a tough start against qualifier Sathwika Sama who won

her three matches with ease in making it to the main draw.

Pranjala has been grappling with an injury and will be up against Vaidehi. Humera Baharmus also did well to qualify and will be up against wild card entrant Jennifer Luikham who has stepped up her game this season.

READ : Rublev the latest to test positive for COVID after Abu Dhabi exhibition

National champion Shrivalli Bhamidipaty will open against fifth seed Diana Marcinkevica of Latvia. And the Fenesta national champion Zeel Desai will play Clara Vlasselaer of Belgium.

Qualifier Arthi Muniyan will challenge Ekaterina Reyngold of Russia who reached the semifinals last week in Pune.

Anna Siskova of the Czech Republic is the top seed and will play Valeriya Strakhova of Ukraine in the first round. The champion of the last tournament, Moyuka Uchijima of Japan will open against sixth seed Nigina Abduraimova of Uzbekistan.

The Results: Qualifying singles (third and final round) : So-Ra Lee (Kor) bt Jagmeet Kaur Grewal 7-6(2), 6-0; Sathwika Sama bt Prathyusha Rachapudi 6-2, 6-2; Saki Imamura (Jpn) bt Saumya Vig 6-1, 4-6, [10-0]; Arthi Muniyan bt Weronika (Baszak (Pol) 5-1 (retired); Sai Samhitha bt Soha Sadiq 1-6, 6-4, [10-7]; Humera Baharmus bt Nidhi Chilumula 6-2, 6-4. Second round : So-Ra Lee bt Niditra Rajmohan 6-1, 6-3; Jagmeet bt Shreyas Tatavarthy 6-3, 4-6 (10-4); Sathwika bt Himadri Kashyap 6-1, 6-3; Prathyusha bt Yashika Venu 6-1, 6-1; Saki bt Riya Uboveja 6-2, 6-4; Saumya bt Daksha Patel 7-5, 5-7, [11-9]; Weronika bt Bela Tamhankar 7-6(4), 7-5; Arthi bt Laalitya Kalluri 6-2, 5-7, [10-6]; Soha bt Yubarani Banerjee 2-6, 7-5, [10-5]; Sai bt Sudipta Kumar 6-2, 6-2; Nidhi bt Sharmada Balu 6-4, 6-3; Humera bt Smriti Bhasin 7-5, 2-6, [10-4]. The seedings : 1. Anna Siskova (Cze), 2. Nefisa Berbovic (BIH), 3. Anna Danilina (Kaz), 4. Chihiro Muramatsu (Jpn), 4. Diana Marcinkevica (Lat), 6. Nigina Abduraimova (Uzb), 7. Akiko Omae (Jpn), 8. Ekaterina Yashina (Rus).