New Delhi, May 27 (IANS) Seventh-seeded Rishika Sunkara staved off a second set fightback from eleventh-seeded Chinese Zhaoxuan Yang 6-2, 7-5 and was the only Indian girl Thursday to enter the quarterfinals of the Asian Junior Tennis Championships at the DLTA complex here.
In fact, Sunkara levelled scores as she had gone down to Zhaoxuan’s in straight sets in first round of ITF juniors last week. The 17-year-old Delhi girl is now up against top seeded Japanese Eri Hozumi, who was hardly challenged by Indian wildcard Adnya Naik during her 6-2, 6-1 win.
All the other Indian girls fell in the third round. Last week’s ITF junior tournament finalist Kyra Shroff fought hard but failed to get past fifth-seeded Chinese Lin Zhu, going down 4-6, 4-6.
Natasha Palha gave a tough fight to eighth-seeded Uzbek Sabina Sharipova in the first set before bowing out 5-7, 3-6. Sharipova next has second-seeded Chinese Ran Tian who dispatched fifteenth-seeded Indian Sharon Sanchana Paul 6-2, 6-0 to enter the last eight stage.
National grasscourt champion Ankita Raina proved no match to last week’s ITF junior winner and fourth-seeded Chinese Zi Yang, losing 3-6, 1-6.
Girls Singles:
Ran Tian (CHN) [2] beat Sharon Sanchana Paul (IND) [15] 6-2, 6-0; Eri Hozumi (JPN) [1] beat Adnya Naik (IND) 6-2, 6-1; Zi Yang (CHN) [4] beat Ankita Raina (IND) [14] 6-3, 6-1; Sabina Sharipova (UZB)[8] beat Natasha Palha (IND) 7-5, 6-3; Rishika Sunkara (IND) [7] beat Zhaoxuan Yang (CHN) [11] 6-2, 7-5; Lin Zhu (CHN) [5] beat Kyra Shroff (IND) [10] 6-4, 6-4; Miyu Kato (JPN) [3] beat Li-Yun ‘Stefanie’ Tan (SIN) [13] 6-4, 6-4; Miho Kowase (JPN) [9] beat Napatsakorn Sankaew (THA) [6] 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.
