Indisposed third seed Ankita did not turn up for PQF match n Sports Reporter ALL but two of the top eight seeds made it the quarter-finals of the MSLTA-NDHTA ITF15K Women’s World Tennis Tour underway at the NDHTA Ramnagar courts, on Thursday. The top three seeds — Vaishnavi Adkar, Z Kulambayeva, Zeel Desai in that order, seeds five and six E Yashina and Elina Nepliy respectively along with eighth seed A Kuparev entered the last-eight of the tournament. Unseeded players Kashish Bhatia and Sonal Patil completed the line-up. Former India Number 1 and third seed Ankita Raina, infected with stomach bug, did not turn up for her PQF match against Sonal Patil while seventh seed A Nitture retired in her first round match on opening day of the main draw. In the pre-quarters, Vaishnavi was stretched to three sets by Ksenia Laskutova in longest match of the day. After taking the first set 6-4, Vaishnavi lost her momentum in the second set and lost 1-6.

 

But she pulled herself back in the third set and displayed excellent tennis to take the match 6-3. Pooja Ingale was promising in the first set against Kazakhstan’s second seed Z Kulambayeva taking it 7-6 (5). But the better rated player raised her game and took the remaining two sets 6-2, 6-1. Zeel overcame the resistance of E Khodzhaeva of Russia in her 7-5, 6-3 win. Kuparev beat Saily Thakkar 6-2, 6-2; Nepliy thumped Sevil Yuldasheva from Uzbekistan 6-1, 6-3; Kashish beat Madhurima Sawant 6-4, 6-2 in a fine display of power and precision while Russia Yashina beat Jennifer Luikham from India 7-5, 6-2. Doubles matches are also in progress and semi-finals will be played on Friday with the final slated for Saturday. Singles semi-finals will be played on Saturday while the mega final is scheduled for Sunday. Braving the heat, the girls are giving their best. Unforced errors and double faults were very few making it a treat for viewers and younger players. The physiotherapy team, provided by the hosts had its hands full as almost every player needed some attention or the other. The team from PHYX Studio is looking after players’ needs.