WTA250 Chennai Open, Qualifying: All Indians lose in opening round

However, Ankita Raina and Karman Thandi will still be in contention for the title after being named in the main draw.

Center court at the SDAT Stadium in Nungambakkam, Chennai. | Photo Credit: KV SRINIVASAN/The Hindu

All five Indians lost their first-round qualifying matches at the WTA250 Chennai Open on Saturday.

Lakshmi Prabha Arunkumar, the 16-year-old wildcard, lost 4-6, 1-6 to top seed Yuki Naito of Japan at the SDAT Stadium in Nungambakkam. Sai Samhitha Chamarthi, the other wildcard, too lost 1-6, 0-6 to second seed Nao Hibino, another Japanese player.

Other Indians in the fray - Rutuja Bhosale, Riya Bhatia and Sowjanya Bavisetti - also went down in the first round of qualifying. In the longest match of the day, third seeded Lina Glushko beats Maria Timofeeva 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 in two hours and 40 minutes.

The final round of qualifying will be held on Sunday.

Results

(1) Yuki Naito beat Lakshmi Prabha Arunkumar (WC) 6-4, 6-1

(2) Nao Hibino beat Sai Chamarthi (WC) 6-1, 6-0

(3) Lina Glushko beat Maria Timofeeva 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (3)

(4) Isabella Shinikova beat Ekaterina Yashina 6-2, 6-2

Peangtarn Plipuech beat (5) Lizette Cabrera 4-6, 7-5, 6-4

(6) Justina Mikulskyte beat Riya Bhatia 6-4, 6-0

(7) Jana Fett beat Kaylah McPhee 7-5, 6-4

(8) Daniela Vismane beat Sofya Lansere 4-6, 7-5, 6-3

Mariia Tkacheva beat (9) Carole Monnet 6-2, 1-6, 6-0

Olivia Tjandramulia beat (10) Ekaterina Kazionova 6-3, 6-1

(11) Kyoka Okamura beat Sowjanya Bavisetti 6-4, 6-0

(12) En-Shuo Liang beat Rutuja Bhosale 6-3, 6-2