Sport - Tennis

Ratnika knocks out Anushree

NEW DELHI: Wild card Ratnika Batra knocked out the fourth-seeded Anushree Thammanna 6-0, 6-3 in the pre-quarterfinals of the DSCL National women’s tennis championship at the DLTA Complex here on Wednesday.

A champion in the under-14 and under-16 sections in the last edition of the National championship at the same venue, the strongly-built local girl Ratnika, hit fluently on either flank to make light of the challenge from the Karnataka player.

Anushree fought on even keel briefly in the second set when she was on par at 3-3, but she made too many errors to trouble Ratnika any further.

In the quarterfinals, Ratnika will face Tamil Nadu’s P.A. Sindhu Nila who was equally impressive in dismissing lucky-loser Mokshada Jain for the loss of two games.

The top-seeded Shalini Sahoo sailed past qualifier Arantxa Andrady for the loss of one game to set up a quarterfinal clash with another qualifier Sowjanya Bavisetti of Andhra Pradesh.

In the doubles, the top-seeded Phadke sisters, Sagarika and Sonal, who had enjoyed a bye in the first round, were beaten 1-6, 6-4, 10-7 by Sowjanya and Sindhu.

The second-seeded Jilke Nelord and D. Harshini Reddy lost their quarterfinals tamely to Tanvi Gupta and Richa Valecha.

The seeds continued to tumble as Arantxa and Sayali Bhilare showed the door to the third-seeded Prarthana Prathap and Anushree Thammanna in straight sets.

The results:

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Shalini Sahoo bt Arantxa Andrady 6-0, 6-1; Sowjanya Bavisetti bt Likitha Shetty 6-0, 6-1; Ratnika Batra bt Anushree Thammanna 6-0, 6-3; P.A. Sindhu Nila bt Mokshada Jain 6-2, 6-0.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Sowjanya and Sindhu Nila bt Sagarika Phadke and Sonal Phadke 1-6, 6-4, 10-7; Arantxa and Sayali Bhilare bt Prarthana Prathap and Anushree 6-2, 6-3; Treta Bhattacharya and Shalini bt Ratnika and Sweta Kumari Solanki 3-6, 6-4, 10-8; Tanvi Gupta and Richa Valecha bt Jilke Nelord and D. Harshini Reddy 6-4, 6-1.

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