The top four seeds in the qualifying draw of the WTA Chennai Open all won their opening round matches on Saturday to move into the final round of qualifying for the WTA 250 event being held at the SDAT Tennis Stadium in Nungambakkam.
Top seeded Yuki Naito, from Japan, defeated 16-year-old Indian wild card Lakshmi Prabha Arunkumar 6-4, 6-1 and will meet Olivia Tjandramulia, who upset 10th seed Ekaterina Kazionova 6-3, 6-1 in another first-round contest.
Second seed Nao Hibino, also from Japan, got the better of another Indian wild card Sai Chamarthi 6-1, 6-0 and will face eighth seed Daniela Vismane on Sunday. Vismane defeated Sofya Lansere 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in two hours and 24 minutes.
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. Players need to win two rounds in qualifying to secure one of six qualifying spots in the 32-player main draw.
(1) Yuki Naito beats Lakshmi Prabha Arunkumar (WC) 6-4, 6-1
(2) Nao Hibino beats Sai Chamarthi (WC) 6-1, 6-0
(3) Lina Glushko beats Maria Timofeeva 4-6, 6-1 7-6
(4) Isabella Shinikova beats Ekaterina Yashina 6-2, 6-2
Peangtarn Plipuech beats (5) Lizette Cabrera 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
(6) Justina Mikulskyte beats Riya Bhatia 6-4, 6-0
(7) Jana Fett beat Kaylah McPhee 7-5, 6-4
(8) Daniela Vismane beats Sofya Lansere 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
Mariia Tkacheva beats (9) Carole Monnet 6-2, 1-6, 6-0
Olivia Tjandramulia beats (10) Ekaterina Kazionova 6-3, 6-1
(11) Kyoka Okamura beats Sowjanya Bavisetti 6-4, 6-0
