India’s No.1 player Ankita Raina is seeded second for the Federal Bank ITF Women’s Open being played at The Tennis Project while Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia has been given the top billing for the main draw that begins here from Tuesday.
Justina Mikulskyte of Lithuania is seeded third while Latvian Diana Marcinkevica is seeded fourth. Sahaja Yamlapalli of the host country has been seeded fifth while Sweden’s Fanny Ostlund and Jacqueline Cabaj Awad are seeded 6th and 7th respectively. Anastasia Gasanova is seeded eighth.
Meanwhile, barring a couple of results, all the matches went the favourites’ way during the second round of qualifying being played here on Monday. The march of the seeds was led by 2nd seed Ikumi Yamazaki of Japan who almost blanked Apurva Vemuri 6-0, 6-2 while her countrymate and 3rd seed Michika Ozeki curbed the challenge of Yubrani Banerjee with a 6-4, 6-2 victory. Fourth seed Vaishnavi Adkar overcame Sahira Singh 6-1, 6-2 while 5th seed 5-Ekaterina Kazionova defeated Richa Dadasaheb Chougule 6-2, 6-2 to enter the final round.
In a minor upset, Shria Atturu of the USA powered past 14th seed Laalitya Kalluri 6-2, 6-0. In the longest match of the day that lasted 4 hours and 31 minutes, 12th seed Abhilasha Bista of Nepal overcame a fighting Divya Harindra Bhardwaj with a 3-6, 6-2, 10-7 win.
Results
Singles Qualifying 2st Round (all Indians except where mentioned)
3-Michika Ozeki (JPN) Vs. Yubrani Banerjee 6-4, 6-2; 11-Yashaswini Panwar bt Harshini Viswanadh 6-2, 6-0; 12-Abhilasha Bista (NEP) bt Divya Harindra Bhardwaj 3-6, 6-2, 10-7; 2-Ikumi Yamazaki (JPN) bt Apurva Vemuri 6-0, 6-2; 4-Vaishnavi Adkar bt Sahira Singh 6-1, 6-2; 13-Sonal Patil bt Sharmada Balu 6-1, 6-7 (9), 13-11; 5-Ekaterina Kazionova bt Richa Dadasaheb Chougule 6-2, 6-2; 9-Saumya Vig bt Sachi Sharma 4-6, 6-4, 11-9; 6-Sowjanya Bavisetti bt Diva Bhatia 6-2, 6-2; 7-Rinon Okuwaki (JPN) bt Ishwari Matere 6-0, 6-2; Shria Atturu (USA) bt 14-Laalitya Kalluri 6-2, 6-0; 16-Anjali Rathi bt Shefali Arora 6-1, 6-0; 8-Madhurima Sawant bt Samaira Malik 6-4, 6-3; 15-Snehal Mane bt Riya Sachdeva 6-3, 7-5;10-Kundali Majgaine bt Himaanshika Singh 6-0, 5-7, 10-5.
