ITF W35 Kalaburagi: Ankita Raina and Zeel Desai advance to 2nd round, but local favourite Soha bows out

India’s Ankita Raina and Zeel Desai advanced to the second round of the ITF W35 Kalaburagi with convincing wins in the first round, while Karnataka’s Soha Sadiq briefly put in an impressive performance before making the bow at the Chandrashekhar Patil Stadium on March 4.

Eighth seed Raina put on a balanced show to defeat fellow Indian Sonal Patil 6-1, 6-3. Patil held serve in the opening game but Raina quickly took control and won six consecutive games to complete the first set in dominant fashion.

A similar process was followed in the second set and Raina took the lead 3-0. Patil showed resilience by holding serve twice to stay in contention and later reduced the deficit to 5-3 after Raina looked set to close out the match at 5-2. However, the experienced Raina maintained his courage in the next match, securing victory and advancing to the second round.

Fifth seed Desai also improved after a solid performance against fellow Indian Jennifer Luikham. Desai won the opening set 6-2 with consistent ground play and continued to lead the rallies in the second set. He maintained control by combining precise drop shots with powerful groundstrokes and eventually closed out the match 6-4 to secure his place in the next round.

Earlier, local favorite Sadiq thrilled the home crowd with a strong start against Singapore’s Eva Marie Desvignes, taking a 4-0 lead in the opening set. However, Desvignes made an impressive comeback to win the set 7-5 and ended the young Karnataka player’s struggle by winning the second set 6-0.

It was disappointing for another Indian as fourth seed Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamdipaty retired from her match against Evgeniya Burdina due to ill health.

First seed Jasmijn Gimbrere defeated Aishwarya Jadhav 6-2, 6-1, while sixth seed Thasaporn Naklo defeated Valeria Savinykh 6-3, 6-2. In other matches, Polina Kuharenko defeated Akanksha Dileep Nitture 6-2, 6-1, Anna Sedyasheva defeated Sandeepthi Singh Rao 6-2, 6-4, and Elina Nepliy defeated Kashish Bhatia 6-0, 6-4.

In the doubles draw, India’s Sravya Shivani Chilakalapudi teamed up with Japan’s Michika Ozeki to advance to the quarter-finals with a convincing 6-2, 6-3 win over Maayan Laron and Maria Mikhailova. Third seeds Desai and Nepliy advanced with 6-3, 6-4 wins over Sedyasheva and Sofia Suslova.

The competition in the ITF W35 Kalaburagi is expected to intensify in the coming rounds with Raina and Desai joining Vaishnavi Adkar in the second round.