Top seed Preethi Ujjini of Karnataka faced stiff resistance from Maharashtra's Anushka Sathe before cruising past her rival after recording a straight set victory in the Rs 1.5-lakh Khar Gymkhana All India ranking women's tennis tournament here today.
Preethi won 6-2 7-6 (8-6) in a closely contested match and meets Shrishti Dhanda of Haryana in the next round on Thursday.
The latter, who made the main draw as a lucky loser, ousted another Karnataka player Sanskriti Ranjan 6-3 6-3 in another opening round clash.
There was an upset when third seed Aryali Chavan of Maharashtra crashed out after being beaten convincingly in straight sets 6-1 6-1 by Karnataka's Abhilasha Vishvanath.
In other singles matches, qualifier Himani Mor (Haryana) surprised Mahrukh Kokani (Maharashtra), ranked 93, 6-0 6-1, while Nida Kamal (Maharashtra) was beaten by state rival Madhuri Patere (Maharashtra) who defeated her 6-4 6-3.
