Zeel Desai beats Ankita Raina in a three-hour duel, enters last eight

Zeel Desai on the way to her gritty win over Ankita Raina in the ITF women’s tennis tournament in Gurugram on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: Kamesh Srinivasan

Wild card entrant Zeel Desai continued to assert her strong game and growing confidence as she beat seventh seed Ankita Raina 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a three-hour battle of wits in the pre-quarterfinals of the $30,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Tennis Project, Baliyawas, on Thursday.

On a day when Vaidehi Chaudhari played solid tennis to accelerate past Sahaja Yamalapalli for the loss of six games, and later partnered Shrivalli Bhamidipaty to reach the doubles semifinals, the 26-year-old Zeel stole the thunder with her maiden win over Ankita.

Zeel’s coach Alexander Waske of Germany, who has been guiding a number of Indian players over the years, was at the venue watching the proceedings and felt proud about the fighting game of his ward.

“Zeelilito, as we call her, fought very well. She attacked well and found solutions in the tough moments. It was a match with lots of long rallies and I am proud of her mental game today. Hope to see more of this tomorrow,” said Waske, who has a tie-up with Altevol Academy in Ahmedabad.

Zeel’s ability will be put under further scrutiny when she takes on second-seed Ekaterina Makarova who had to fight her way past qualifier Rinon Okuwaki of Japan in three sets.

Vaidehi will challenge fifth seed Kristina Dmitruk in the quarterfinals.

Fourth seed Haruka Kaji beat the champion of the last tournament Sohyun Park of Korea for the loss of six games, and will play fellow Japanese, qualifier Ikumi Yamazaki who beat sixth seed Amandine Hesse in straight sets.

Polina Iatcenko was in top form as she outplayed third seed Mei Yamaguchi of Japan. She will play German, Antonia Schmidt next.

In the doubles semifinals, Shrivalli and Vaidehi will play the second-seeds Makarova and Ekaterina Reyngold.

The results: Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Vaidehi Chaudhari bt Sahaja Yamalapalli 6-3, 6-3; Kristina Dmitruk bt Daria Kudashova 6-3, 6-0; Haruka Kaji (Jpn) bt Sohyun Park (Kor) 7-5, 6-1; Ikumi Yamazaki (Jpn) bt Amandine Hesse (Fra) 7-6(5), 6-3; Antonia Schmidt (Ger) bt Mariia Tkacheva 7-6(9), 6-2; Polina Iatcenko bt Mei Yamaguchi (Jpn) 6-2, 6-2; Zeel Desai bt Ankita Raina 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Ekaterina Makarova bt Rinon Okuwaki (Jpn) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Polina Iatcenko & Mariia Tkacheva bt Riya Bhatia & Ekaterina Yashina 6-2, 6-1; Rinon Okuwaki & Michika Ozeki bt Kristina Dmitruk & Kira Pavlova 6-3, 6-2; Shrivalli Bhamidipaty & Vaidehi Chaudhari bt Antonia Schmidt (Ger) & Clara Vlasselaer (Bel) 6-3, 6-4; Ekaterina Makarova & Ekaterina Reyngold bt Akanksha Nitture & Soha Sadiq 6-4, 6-3.