India's Ankita Raina, Prarthana Thombare enter doubles quarter-finals in ITF Women's Open

Ankita Raina and Prarthana Thombare of India achieved a remarkable comeback victory to get to the doubles quarterfinals of the KPB Trust ITF Women's Open on Tuesday at the KSLTA Stadium in Bengaluru. The wildcard Indo-German pair of Sharmada Balu and Sarah Rebecca Sekulic were upset by the No. 2 seeded team 5-7, 6-3, 10-6 in a Round of 16 match that lasted over two hours. Rutuja Bhosale and Jacqueline Awad, the third-seeded Indo-Swedish team, also reached the Last-8 round after defeating Ji Hee Choi (South Korea) and Lee Ya-Hsuan (Taipei) 6-4, 6-2. The Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association is the site of the ongoing $40k ITF Women's World Tennis Tour event (KSLTA). The Pragathi Narayan team is all Indian.While Prathiba Narayan was eliminated from the Round of 16 after losing to Anastasia Kovaleva and Hanna Vinahradava 4-6, 2-6. Another all-Indian team, Vaidehi Chaudhari and Shrivalli Rashmikaa, suffered a similar fate. They fought hard against the highly regarded team of Slovenia's Dalilia Jakupovic, a former World No. 38, and France's Amandine Hesse, but ultimately lost 6-7 (5), 7-5, and 5-10. The tournament was previously launched by Dr. Ekroop Caur IAS, Secretary, Department of Finance (Budget), Government of Karnataka, in the presence of KP Balaraj, Founder of KPB Family Trust, Sunil Yajaman, Joint Secretary of KSLTA, and Peter Vijay Kumar, Tournament Director. Japanese player Ikumi Yamazaki was competing in the singles' opening round.Sakura Hosogi, the third seed, was shocked. 5-7, 3-6. Sharmada, a Bengaluru-born wild card participant, was defeated by No. 8 seed Eden Silva of Britain, 2-6, 4-6.