Top seed Ankita Raina reached her second singles semi-final of the season with a comfortable straight sets win but bowed out of the doubles event of the USD 25,000 ITF women's tournament here today.
The India number one had no problem in registering a 6-2 6-4 win over Thai fifth seed Nicha Lertpitaksinchai in the quarterfinals of the hard court tournament.
Ankita now has an opportunity to play her singles final for which she will fight out with Japanese third seed Miyabi Inoue.
Last month Ankita had reached semifinals of Karshi USD 25,000 event where she lost to Uzbekistan's Nigina Abduraimova.
Playing in the doubles, Ankita could not make it to her second summit clash in a row as she lost her last four encounter with partner Sharrmadda Baluu. The third seed Indian team lost 7-5 1-6 3-10 to top seed Thai pair of Varatchaya Wongteanchai and Varunya Wongteanchai.
In the singles against Nicha, Ankita raced to a 4-0 lead but was broken in the fifth when she was up 40-15. But she had a good enough cushion to close the set in her favour.
In the second set, the two players traded breaks frequently. The Indian was down 3-4 but did not allow her rival to stretch it to decider as she broke Nicha in the 10th game at love.
"It was a difficult match. She has a casual approach as she won't reach for half the balls but will suddenly hit some unbelievable winners and drop shots out of nowhere," Ankita said after her match.
