Day of upsets in Pune tennis Futures

Ankita Raina Pune, Oct 14 : Junior players Ankita Raina of Pune, Aishwarya Agarwal and Prerna Bhambri of Delhi upset seeded players to move into the women's singles quarterfinals of the $10000 MSLTA-AITA Women's ITF Tennis Futures at the Balewadi complex, here Wednesday.

In the second round matches, Aishwarya knocked out third seeded veteran Sanaa Bhambri 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 to record one of the most impressive wins of her career. Sanaa's cousin Prerna, however, kept the Bhambri family flag flying by scoring a 6-2, 6-3 win over seventh seeded Jung Yoon Shin of Korea.

Ankita, who shifted to Pune for her tennis career and watched by her coach Hemant Bendrey, played consistent tennis to take 6-1, 4-2 lead over fifth seeded Shweta Kumari Solanki before the latter retired from the match.

The 15-year old Ankita, who is supported by the city-based LAKSHYA, made it to her maiden quarterfinal round in a women's event.

Raina's compatriot Rashmi Teltumbde went down fighting to second seeded veteran Rushmi Chakravarthi 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Top seeded Poojashree Venkatesha, fourth seeded Japanese Miki Miyamura, eighth seeded Shivika Burman and sixth seeded Elodie Rogge Dietrich also made it to the quarter-finals.

The results (second round): Poojashree Venkatesh bt Son Mi Seo (Kor) 6-1, 6-1; Elodie Rogge Dietrich bt Sheetal Gautam 6-1, 6-3; Aishwarya Agarwal bt Sanaa Bhambri 4-6, 7-5, 6-3; Prerna Bhambri bt Jung Yoon Shin (Kor) 6-2, 6-3; Miki Miyamura (Jpn) bt Nimisha Mohan 6-2, 6-0; Shivika Burman bt Kristina Kazimova (Ukr) 6-2, 7-6 (6); Ankita Raina bt Shweta Kumari Solanki 6-1, 4-2 (Retd); Rushmi Chakravarthi bt Rashmi Teltumbde 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Doubles (Quarter-finals): Sanaa Bhambri/Rushmi Chakravarthy bt Prerana Bhambri/Chika Terasawa 6-1, 6-2; Moe Kawatoko/Miki Miyamura bt Seo, Soon-Mi/Shin, Jung Yoon 6-4, 6-2.(IANS)