Riya Bhatia wins $15,000 ITF championship in Colombo

The Colombo Championship win was Riya's second singles title in the professional circuit, after she won her first title in Egypt last year.

Top seed Riya Bhatia put up a strong display to defeat Josephine Boualem 7-6, 6-1 to clinch the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Colombo on Monday.

Two-time national champion and top seed Riya Bhatia beat Josephine Boualem of France 7-6(2), 6-1 to clinch the title in the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Colombo on Monday.

It was the second singles title in the professional circuit for the 20-year-old Riya, who had won her first title in Egypt last year. More Indian players including the national championship runner-up Zeel Desai joined the second tournament in Colombo.

In the $125,000 men’s Challenger in Tashkent, Vishnu Vardhan was beaten in the third and final qualifying round 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 by top seed Danilo Petrovic of Serbia. Vishnu will play the doubles in partnership with Jeevan Neduncehzhiyan, while Divij Sharan will
partner Yuki Bhambri.

Karman Kaur Thandi opened her challenge in France with a doubles victory in partnership with Samantha Murray of Britain, in the $25,000 ITF women’s event.

Top seeds Vijay Sundar Prashanth and Karunuday Singh missed three match points at 9-6 in the super tie-break but went on to beat Yurii Dzhavakian of Ukraine and Martins Podzus of Latvia 2-6, 6-2, 11-9 in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of ITF Futures in Thailand.

The results:

$125,000 Challenger men, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Qualifying singles (third and final round): Danilo Petrovic (Srb) bt Vishnu Vardhan 7-5, 4-6, 6-3;
Second round: Vishnu Vardhan bt Volodoymyr Uzbylovskyi (Ukr) 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-2;
First round: Volodoymyr Uzhylovskyi bt Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 6-1, 6-7(8), 6-1; Vishnu Vardhan bt Aziz Dadabaev (Uzb) 6-2, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF men, Nonthaburi, Thailand
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Vijay Sundar Prashanth & Karunuday Singh bt Yurii Dzhavakian (Ukr) & martins Podzus (Lat) 2-6, 6-2, 11-9.

$25,000 ITF women, Cherboug-en-Cotentin, France
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Samantha Murray (GBR) & Karman Kaur Thandi bt Ekaterina Kazionova & Olesya Pervushina (Rus) 6-3, 1-6, 10-6.

$25,000 ITF women, Obidos, Portugal
Qualifying singles (third and final round): Anna Pribylova (Rus) bt Nandini Sharma 6-4, 6-1; Second round: Nandini Sharma bt Alicia Barnett (GBR) 7-6(6), 6-4.

$15,000 ITF women, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Singles (final): Riya Bhatia bt Josephine Boualem (Fra) 7-6(2), 6-1.