India's Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale storm into singles semi-finals of ITF Women's Open
Mar 10, 2023
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], March 10 : India's Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale displayed immense tenacity while etching three-set wins to reach the singles semi-finals of the ITF Women's Open at the KSLTA Stadium in Bengaluru on Friday.
Raina, fourth seed in the tournament, fought past Dea Herdzelas of Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-1, 6-7 (7), 7-5 while Bhosale overcame eighth-seed Briton Eden Silva 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Raina will face Bhosale in an all-Indian semi-final on Saturday.
Earlier, top seed Brenda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic also entered the semi-finals with a 6-0, 7-5 victory over Indonesia's sixth-seeded Madelyne Nugroho. The No. 5 seed Dalila Jakupovic also registered an easy 6-2, 6-0 win against Ikumi Yamazaki in the other quarter-final.
"The first set was going pretty easy and fast and in the second I was leading 5-3 but I didn't really use my chances. Then at 5-5, I broke her serve and held my serve to win the match. I am happy that it was not a three-set match because physically I was not 100 per cent -- probably because of the matches and the heat as well. I am happy that I have eased through," said Fruhvirtova after her win.
Later in the day, Bhosale and her Swedish partner Jacqueline Awad went down to No. 1 seeded Portuguese pair of Jorge Fransica and Jorge Matilde 6-2, 3-6, 8-10 in the doubles semi-final.
Fransica-Matilde will face Greco-British pair of Valentini Grammatikopoulou and Eden Silva in the final on Saturday. Grammatikopoulou and Silva defeated Dalila Jakupovic of Slovakia and Amandine Hesse of France 6-1, 6-3.
