Kalaburagi, 04 March (H.S.):

India's top tennis stars Ankita Raina and Zeel Desai delivered commanding wins to advance to the second round of the ITF W35 Kalaburagi tournament at Chandrashekar Patil Stadium, while Karnataka's Soha Sadik bowed out despite a strong start.

Eighth seed Raina crushed compatriot Sonal Patil 6-1, 6-3 in an all-Indian clash, racing to a 6-0 first-set lead after holding serve and maintaining composure to close out the match despite a late fightback. Fifth seed Desai overpowered Jennifer Luikham 6-2, 6-4 with relentless baseline pressure, mixing drop shots and powerful groundstrokes.

Sadik thrilled local fans with a 4-0 opening burst against Singapore's Eva Mary Desvignes but faltered, losing 7-5, 6-0. Shrivalli Bhamidipati retired mid-match due to medical issues.Top seed Jasmin Gimbrere defeated Aishwarya Jadhav 6-2, 6-1; sixth seed Thasaporn Naklo beat Valeria Savinikh 6-3, 6-2; Polina Kuharenko ousted Akanksha Dilip Nitture 6-2, 6-1; Anna Sedyasheva topped Sandipti Singh Rao 6-2, 6-4; and Elina Nepliy prevailed over Kashish Bhatia 6-0, 6-4.

In doubles, India's Shravya Shivani Chilkalapudi and Japan's Michika Ozeki downed Mayan Laron and Maria Mikhailova 6-2, 6-3 to reach quarterfinals; third seeds Desai and Nepliy beat Anna Sedyasheva and Sofia Suslova 6-3, 6-4.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar