Vashi, December 12: Wildcard entrants Ankita Raina and Prarthana Thombare kept the Indian interest alive in the doubles event as they entered the doubles semifinals at the $25000 Ganesh Naik ITF women’s tennis championships organized by the Navi Mumbai Sports Association and being played at the Ganesh Naik tennis complex here.
In the quarterfinals the Raina – Thombare pair scored a 7-5 6-4 win over Gioia Barbieri of Italy and Deniz Khazaniuk of Israel , In the semifinals the Indians will take on British pair of Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith who upset second seeds Ksenia Palkina of Kyrgyzstan and Jade Windley of Britain 6-3 6-1
Top seeds Oksana Kalashnikova of Georgia and Diana Marcinkevica of Latvia scraped past Kamonwan Buayam and Peangtarn Plipuech of Thailand 4-6 7-6(4) [10-6] . In the last four they will take on third seeds Basak Eraydin and Melis Sezer of Turkey who scored 2-6 7-5 [10-1] win over Japanese pair of Rika Fujiwara and Miyabi Inoue .
In the singles quarterfinals , Former world no 84 in Singles and No13 in the doubles on the WTA Tour 32 year old Rika Fujiwara continued her winning spree scoring a facile 6-3,6-0 win over Ami Amiraghyan of Armenia in a clash of qualifiers . Fujiwara who admits to relish Indian conditions and food scored a win in just over a hour. Fujiwara who has won five matches on a trot earlier toppled third seeded Basak Eraydin of Turkey in the second round.
In the semifinals Fujiwara will take on another qualifier 25 year old Anna Smith of Great Britain, the 572 ranked Smith rallied out a tired looking Thai Girl Peangtarn Plipuech 6-4, 6-2 to also win her fifth consecutive match in 1 hour 18 minutes .
Last week’s runners-up at Pune event Kamila Kerimbayeva of Kazakhstan ousted eighth seeded Oksana Kalashnikova of Georgia 6-3,6-3 in I hour 10 minutes , the 18 year old Kazakh rallied brilliantly to break the tall Oksana in the 3rd and the 5th games in the first set and the 7th and the 9th games in the second set.
In the semifinals Kamila will clash with top seeded Polish player Magda Linette ranked 152 , Linette went through a harrowing time before overcoming a fighting Chinese Hao Chen Tang in the longest match of the day , Linette looking for second title in a row here scored a 4-6,6-4,6-2 win in a match lasting over 2hours . Linette who struggled in the first set, broke Hao in the 9th game in the second set to level set scores. In the third set Linette found her rhythm to take five games in a row to from being 1-2 down to take the set and remain the only seed in the singles.
Following are the results.
Singles ( Quarter Finals)
S.1 Magda Linette (Pol)(152) bt Hao Chen Tang ( Chn)4-6,6-4,6-2
Kamila Kerimbayeva (Kaz)(393 ) bt S.8 Oksana Kalashnikova (Geo) (320)6-3,6-3
Q. Rika Fujiwara (Jpn) (688) bt Q. Ani Amiraghyan (Arm) (558 ) 6-3,6-0
Q. Anna Smith ( Gbr)( 572) bt Peangtarn Plipuech ( Tha)(408) 6-4,6-2
Quarterfinals ( Doubles)
Oksana KALASHNIKOVA (GEO) / Diana MARCINKEVICA (LAT) [1] bt Kamonwan BUAYAM (THA) / Peangtarn PLIPUECH (THA) 4-6 7-6(4) [10-6]
Basak ERAYDIN (TUR) / Melis SEZER (TUR) [3} bt Rika FUJIWARA (JPN) / Miyabi INOUE (JPN) ] 2-6 7-5 [10-1]
Ankita RAINA (IND) / Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Gioia BARBIERI (ITA) / Deniz KHAZANIUK (ISR) 7-5 6-4
Jocelyn RAE (GBR) / Anna SMITH (GBR) bt Ksenia PALKINA (KGZ) / Jade WINDLEY (GBR) [2] 6-3 6-1