Bengaluru, Jan 18: Asian Games Gold medallist Rutuja Bhosale became the lone woman amongst five Indians in the main draw to qualify for the women’s singles quarterfinals of the KPB Trust ITF Women’s Open at the KSLTA Stadium here on Thursday. The 27-year-old did not have to break much sweat as her highest ranked Indian opponent Ankita Raina, seeded 8th, threw in the towel after being indisposed, three games into the pre-quarterfinal match where she was trailing 1-2.
The other Indian in fray – Vaidehi Chaudhary also exited as she could not sustain her form after winning the first set against sixth seed Carole Monnet of France and went down 7-6 (5), 4-6, 4-6. The Indian challenge in the doubles too fizzled out as the duo of Sharmada Balu and Sravya Shivani Chilakalapudi and the pair of Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty and Vaidehi Chaudhari lost their respective quarterfinal matches. The second seeded pair of Prarthana G Thombare and Anastasia Tikhonova suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Amandine Hesse of France and Slovian Dalila Jakupovic in another last-four tie.
Meanwhile, top seed Darja Semenistaja of Latvia had to really dig deep to overcome her German opponent and qualifier Lena Papadakis 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4 to make it to the last eight stage. Darja who has three W60 and one W40 titles in the last season, after losing her serve in the very first game, came back strongly to win the next four games with breaks in the 2nd and the 4th game. The 21 year old who is currently ranked 142nd in the world, was serving for the set at 5-3 but lost her serve as the 25-year-old German then took the set into tie-break which the younger of the opponent won at 5. Lena launched into a different mode in the second set, where she served with aplomb and dished out four aces out of a total of eight in the entire match. After both the opponents had traded a break each by the sixth game, Lena achieved a crucial break in the eighth game and held her serve in the next to take the match into the deciding set.
Darja after losing her serve in the first game of the third set, went on to win the next three games to gain the momentum and led 5-2 with another break in the sixth game. Lena fought back, winning the next two games while saving two match points in the 9th game before the Latvian broke her serve to win the set and the match.
Results (Bracket indicates country, pre-fix indicates seeding)
Singles Round of 16
4-Moyuka Uchijima (JPN) bt Dalila Jakupovic (SLO) 6-3, 6-3; Tatiana Prozorova Vs. Q-Mei Yamaguchi (JPN) 6-0, 6-2; WC-Rutuja Bhosale (IND) bt 8-Ankita Raina 2-1 (retd); 1-Darja Semenistaja (LAT) bt Q-Lena Papadakis (GER) 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4; 2-Chloe Paquet (FRA) bt Sakura Hosogi (JPN) 6-4, 6-0; Q-Naho Sato (JPN) bt Jana Kolodynska 7-5, 6-2; 5-Polina Kudermetova bt Tina Nadine Smith (AUS) 6-3, 1-6, 6-4; 6-Carole Monnet (FRA) bt Vaidehi Chaudhari (IND) 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4.
Doubles Quarterfinals
Saki Imamura/Naho Sato (both JPN) bt WC-Sharmada Balu/Sravya Shivani Chilakalapudi (both IND) 6-0, 6-1; 1-Camilla Rosatello (ITA)/Darja Semenistaja (LAT) bt Polina Kudermetova/Ekaterina Yashina 6-4, 6-4; Yu-Yun Li (TPE)/Eri Shimizu (JPN) bt Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty/Vaidehi Chaudhari (both IND) 6-1, 6-4; Amandine Hesse (FRA)/Dalila Jakupovic (SLO) bt 2-Prarthana G Thombare (IND)/Anastasia Tikhonova 6-2, 2-6, 10-7.
