India No.1 Ankita Raina will clash with Indian No.2 Karman Kaur Thandi in the singles quarter final of the the 22nd edition of the NECC Deccan ITF $40000 Women’s Tennis Tournament, India’s longest-running international tennis tournament organised under the auspices of the ITF, AITA and MSLTA by Deccan Gymkhana, and sponsored by National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) at the Deccan Gymkhana Tennis Courts.
The winner of this match will be crowned India No.1 – Raina winning will ensure that she retains the top spot, while Thandi winning would mean that she topples Ankita from the top spot. Thandi leads the head-to-head 2-1, with Thandi winning their most recent clash in 2019, Pune – 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3).
In the second round played today eighth seeded Ankita Raina beat Gozal Ainitdinova of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-2 in 1 hour 28 minutes, while Karman Kaur Thandi beat the Junior WR #6 Russian Ksenia Zaytseva 6-3, 6-3 in 1 hour 16 minutes.
The Raina-Thandi clash, scheduled on Republic Day, ensures that an Indian will play in the singles semifinals.
In another match featuring Indian player, the top seeded Wimbledon semifinalist and WTA Comeback player of the year, Tatjana Maria, showed her class as she outplayed local star Rutuja Bhosale 6-1, 6-0 in less than an hour.
In the doubles, top seeded pair of Ankita Raina and Prarthana Thombare also made It to the quarter finals, as they put out the challenge of Zeel Desai and Anastasia Sukhotina of Russia 6-4, 6-4.
Rutuja Bhosale made it to the doubles quarterfinal partnering Ekaterina Yashina with a walkover.
Following are the results: Singles: Second Round:
Nigina Abduraimova (UZB)[2] bt Daria Kudashova(RUS) 6-2, 6-1
Ankita Raina (IND) [8] bt Gozal Ainitdinova (KAZ) 6-4, 6-2
Anastasia Tikhonova (RUS) [4] bt En Shuo Liang (TPE) 7-5, 6-3
Eri Shimizu (JPN) bt Zhibek Kulambayeva (KAZ) 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2
Tatjana Maria (GER) [1] bt Rutuja Bhosale (IND) 6-1, 6-0
Irina Khromacheva (RUS) [6] bt Tina Nadine Smith (AUS) 6-4, 6-4
Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) bt Ksenia Zaytseva(RUS) 6-3, 6-3
Valeria Savinykh (RUS) [7] bt Emily Welker (GER) 6-3,7-5
Doubles: First Round
Ankita Raina(IND)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND)[1] bt Zeel Desai(IND)/ Anastasia Sukhotina(RUS) 6-4, 6-4
Rutuja Bhosale (IND) [2] /Ekaterina Yashina(RUS) W/O Ekaterina Makarova(RUS)/Ekaterina Reyngold(RUS)
Diana Marcinkevica (LAT)/Rosalie Van Der Hoek (NED) [3] bt Madhurima Sawant (Ind)/Bela Tamhankar (IND) 6-2, 7-6(4)
