Ankita, Prarthana sail into round two

Aurangabad (Maha): Top seed Ankita Raina and second seed Prarthana Thombare sailed into the second round of the USD 10,000 Enduranace MSLTA ITF women's tennis championship along with compatriots, Prerna Bhambri and Natasha Palha, here today.

Also through was fourth-seeded Emi Mutaguchi of Japan.

Ankita outplayed Malaysia's Theiviya Selvarajoo 6-2 6-2 while Prarthana ousted her Indian rival Jeni Patel 6-1 6-2 in one-sided first round matches.

Fourth seed Emi Mutaguchi scored a 6-3 6-2 win over her Indian rival Arantxa Andrady.

Sixth seed Prerna trounced Aashima Garg 6-0 6-1 and seventh seed Natasha out-rallied Sharon Sanchana Paul 6-3 6-4 to move into the last sixteen in the singles.

Wild Card entrant Rutuja Bhosale went through a tough first set before ousting Anushka Bhargava 6-4 6-1 while qualifier Amrita Mukherjee scored an easy 6-2 6-0 win over wild card Isha Budwal.

In a well-contested match Japanese Chihiro Nunome registered a 6-1 6-4 win over India's Sharmada Balu to enter the second round. She would take on Prarthana for a place in the last eight.

In her pre quarter finals, fourth seed Sowjanya Bavisetti will take on Emi Mutaguchi and no. 5 seed Shweta Rana would clash with wild card Rutuja Bhosale, who defeated Anushka Bhargava 6-4 6-1.

Doubles results (Round 1): Emi Mutaguchi/Nunome Chihiro (Jpn) bt Riya Bhatia/Amrita Mukherjee(Ind) 6-3 6-1; Akshara/Iska Teertha bt Aashima Garg/Shrishti Slaria 6-4 6-1; Sanya Madan/Preethi Ujjini bt Sahan Shetty/Vaibhavi Trivedi 6-4 4-6 10-3.