India's third seed Rishika Sunkara, fifth seed Shweta Rana and no. 8 Nidhi Chilumula advanced to the second round of the USD 10,000 Enduranace MSLTA ITF women's tennis championships, here today.
Rishika, ranked 551 in the world, outplayed countrywoman Vaniya Dangwal 6-1, 6-4 while Shweta, ranked 558, was stretched by wild card Teertha Iska before eking out a 4-6 6-1 6-0 victory in 2 hours and 10 minutes.
Nidhi also faced a rough time before overcoming a fighting Eetee Maheta 5-7 6-2 6-0 to make it to the last sixteen.
Scratch pair of Rutuja Bhosale and Natasha Palha registered the first upset of the event as they saved 3 match points to push out fourth seeds Nidhi and Prerna Bhambri 1-6 6-3 [13-11] to enter the quarterfinals of the doubles event.
The results: (1st round): Damini Sharma bt Sahan Shetty 6-3 6-3; Akshara Iska bt Vaibhavi Trivedi 6-1 6-4; Sowjanya Bavisetti bt Riya Bhatia 6-3 6-2; Shweta Rana [5] bt Teertha Iska 4-6 6-1 6-0; Nidhi Chilumula [8] bt Eetee Maheta 5-7 6-2 6-0; Bhuvana Kalva bt Mahrukh Kokni (wild card) 6-2 6-0; Rishika Sunkara [3] bt Vaniya Dangwal 6-1 6-4; Sanya Madan bt Srishti Slaria 6-1 6-2;
Doubles (1st round): Shweta Rana/Rishika Sunkara [3] bt Arantxa Andrady/Sharon Sanchana Paul 6-2 6-1; Rutuja Bhosale/ Natasha Palha bt [4] Nidhi Chhlumula/Prerna Bhambri 1-6 6-3 [13-11]; Eetee Maheta/Anushka Bhargava bt Vaniya Dangwal/Theiviya Selvarajoo (Mas) 6-4 6-2; Ankita Raina/ Prarthana Thombare bt Amreen Naaz/Swetha Nalikala 6-0 6-0.
