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Ankita leads Indians' exit at women's ITF meet

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Press Trust of India Aurangabad
India's No. 1 woman tennis player Ankita Raina, the fifth seed, was dumped in straight sets by Taipei qualifier Ching-Wen Hsu in round one of the USD 25,000 Endurance Aurangabad Open Women's ITF Championships today.

Hsu, ranked 505th in the world, ousted the 242nd ranked Ankita 7-6 (6) 6-2 in two hours and seven minutes to enter the second round in singles here.

In the opening set, which went to the tie-break, Ankita missed a forehand at 5-5 and let the qualifier surge ahead to capture it.

In the second, the Indian girl looked jaded, was down 1-4 and could not make a comeback, losing the set tamely and with that the match.
 

Hsu also proved to be Ankita's nemesis in the doubles by partnering countrymate Pei-Chi Lee, to oust the second seeded pair of the Indian girl and Emily Webley-Smith of Britain 5-7 7-5 10-8.

Also making their exit from the singles were other Indian players Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy, a qualifier, lucky loser Snehadevi Reddy and wild card Prarthana Thombare.

Katy Dunne Britain outplayed Sri Vaishnavi 6-4 6-3, while winner of the title here last year -- Dalila Jakupovic -- of Slovakia scored an identical win over Snehadevi to make it to round two.

Top seed Magda Linette proved too strong for India No. 2 Prarthana G Thombare, winning 6-3 7-5 in less than two hours.

In other matches, Harriet Dart of Britain toppled fourth seed and 231st-ranked Varatchaya Wongteanchai of Thailand.

Dart, ranked 430, broke her Thai rival in the 11th game of the first set and the 3rd game of the second set to earn the victory in two hours and 25 minutes.

Other results:

Singles (1st round): Riko Sawayanagi (JPN) (6) bt Cristina Ene (ROU) 2-6 6-0 6-2; Xinyun Han (CHN) (8) bt Britt Geukens (BEL) 6-2 6-2.

Doubles (1st round): Ya-Hsuan Lee/V Wongteanchai (Thai,3) b Natasha Palha/ Rishika Sunkara (Ind) 6-3 6-2; Kai-Lin Zhang/ Yukun Zhang (Chn) b Bhuvana Kalva/ Rashmi Teltumbde (Ind) 6-3 6-0l; Nidhi Chilumula/ Prarthana Thombare b Snehadevi S Reddy/ Dhruthi Venugopal 5-7 6-3 10-6.

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First Published: Feb 24 2015 | 6:15 PM IST

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