Ankita eases into Round 2,Malhotra falls

Ankita used her forehand to great effect through this match,rattling off a few winners down the line every now and then to leave Ratnika increasingly clueless about figuring out a way past the top seed. She packed more punch into her shots,but the increased pace only increased her unforced errors count,and sent more points Ankita’s way. The Delhi player wrapped up the first set in a flash without the loss of a single game.

In the second set,Ratnika finally got herself up on the scoreboard after winning the third game,and that served as encouragement for the youngster. She pumped her fist and looked at her camp in the stands,and set about trying to increase the numbers on her side of the scoresheet. She could only manage one more,though,as Ankita wrapped up the match a few games later.

Second seed Japanese Anastasia Malhotra couldn’t get past Korean Soon-Mi Seo,and at the end of three sets of grueling tennis,the score read 6-7 (5) 7-5 7-5 in favour of the latter. Sanaa Bhambri,seeded fourth,was taken to a tie-break in the second set against Ting Li of China,but proved up to the task and moved into the second round with a 6-4 7-6 (3) victory.

Results: Singles: Ankita Bhambri bt Ratnika Batra 6-2 6-0; Ying Ying Duan (CHN) bt Moe Kawatoko (JPN) 6-2 6-3; Parija Maloo bt Parul Goswami 6-7 (4) 7-6 (7) 6-1; Sanaa Bhambri bt Ting Li (CHN) 6-4 7-6 (3); Rushmi Chakravarthi bt Alisa Olgorodova 6-1 1-6 6-3; Kang Seo-Kyung bt Stephanie Theiler (SUI) 6-0 6-2; Keren Shlomo (ISR) bt Lisa Marshall (RSA) 6-2 6-4; Rashmi Teltumbde bt Smita Rani Jain 6-1 6-1; Soon-Mi Seo (KOR) bt Anastasia Malhotra (JPN) 6-7 (5) 7-5 7-5.