Mihika knocks out 7th seed, Karman survives Riya scare

Pune : Wildcard Mihika Yadav toppled seventh seeded Yana Sizikova while second seed Karman Kaur Thandi survived a scare from Riya Bhatia before progressing to the second round of the ITF Pune Open here today.

The Asian Junior champion Mihika knocked out the Russian 6-3 7-5 in the opening round of the USD 25000 ITF women's event at the MSLTA School of tennis, Balewadi.Second seed Karman Thandi was tested by qualifier and 2016 National champion Riya before prevailing 6-4 4-6 7-6(5) in her marathon opening round which lasted three hours and nine minutes.

Riya saved six match points and came back from 2-5 to force a tie-break in the final set but missed out narrowly.In a match between two local players, Rutuja Bhosale took one hour 12 minutes to get the better of wildcard Snehal Mane 6-4 6-2.Fourth seeded Valeriya Stakhova rallied to beat Nidhi Chilumula 6-1 6-3.

Singles 2nd round results: Deniz Khazaniuk [1](ISR) bt Olesya Pervushina (RUS) 6-4 6-2 J Adina Cristian [2] (ROU) bt Berfu Cengiz(TUR) 7-5 6-2 Karman Thandi [3] (IND) bt Riya Bhatia(IND) 6-4 4-6 7-6(5)Valeriya Strakhova [4](UKR) bt Nidhi Chilumula(IND) 6-1 6-3 Ana Veselinovic (MNE) [6] bt Salsa Aher(IND) 6-1 7-5 (WC)Mihika Yadav(IND) bt Yana Sizikova [7] (RUS) 6-3 7-5 Tereza Mihalikova [8] (SVK) bt Prerna Bhambri (IND) 6-1 6-2 Rutuja Bhosale(IND) bt (WC)Snehal Mane(IND) 6-4 6-2 Karin Kennel(SUI) bt Ksenia Palkina (KGZ) 6-3 6-3 Fatma Al Nabhani(OMA) bt P Yadlapalli(IND) 6-4 6-7(4) 6-4.