$25K ITF Women Circuit, Japan,March-April 2018 (Ankita,Karman)

[sameerph]

There are 3 back to back $25K tournaments in Japan starting from this week where our top 2 women players Ankita and Karman would be playing.

This week at $25K ITF Women, Kofu

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,255) vs. (WC) Mai Hontama (JPN,856)

[R1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,273) vs (Q) Rija Ushijama (JPN,552)

Hontama was top 15 in ITF juniors last year, still a first round match-up which Ankita would have taken considering the tough field here where she is not seeded. Karman too cannot complain much about the draw.

[bujilover]

Ankita breezed away with the first set 6-1. She also broke her opponent early in the second set to serve at 1-0. She could enter top-200 for the first time with a QF appearance here.

[meyyis]

Ankita won 6-1, 7-6.

At $25K ITF Women, Kofu

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,255) d. (WC) Mai Hontama (JPN,856) : 6-1, 7-6

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,255) vs. Ayla AKSU (TUR,225)

21 year old Ayla Aksu defeated the 7th seeded Chinese Jing-Jing Lu (ranked 173) in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 in her first round match.
Doesn't seem to be a push over and Ankita need to be at her best to overcome her.

[bujilover]

Ankita lost to Ayla last year in a Turkey CH in 3 sets. Should be another 3-set tussle. Good luck to Ankita!

[sameerph]

She could enter top-200 for the first time with a QF appearance here.

I think Ankita will need to make it to the SF to make it top 200. But, she is surely getting closer and closer to making her first grand slam qualifying draw at French open. More than a month left still for cut off date and Ankita only needs to get 1-2 wins like today to make it safe for her.

She also starte with a doubles win.

At $25K ITF Women, Kofu

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND) / Chin-Wei Chan (TPE) d. (WC) Kiko Nishizato (JPN) / Sayaka Suzuki (JPN) 63 60

[Saniapower]

Karman vs (Q) Rija will be interesting.

[suresh]

Karman's opponent is Risa Ushijima, not Rija Ushijima. Match to start in a few minutes from now. Go Karman.

[sameerph]

Karman wins in straight sets. She was down 1-3 in the second set and but won 5 straight games after that.

At $25K ITF Women, Kofu

[R1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,273) d. (Q) Risa Ushijima (JPN,552) 63 63

Next,

[R2] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,273) vs. (Q) Julia Wachaczyk (GER,454)

Julia upset 4th seeded Australian Olivia Rogowska (ranked 145) in first round. A bit surprising where that result came from as Julia's results were average before that this year. Hope Karman prevails over her.

[meyyis]

At $25K ITF Women, Kofu

KKT advances with a straight sets First round win. She faces another qualifier Julia Wachaczyk in the second round, who had defeated the 4th seed Australian (ranked 145) in the first round.

[R1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,273) d. (Q) Rija Ushijama (JPN,552) : 6-3, 6-3

In Secound Round

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,255) vs. Ayla AKSU (TUR,225)

[R2] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,273) vs. (Q) Julia Wachaczyk (GER, 454)

[suresh]

If Karman wins R2, she will most probably play 8th seed Bianca Andreescu (Canadian of Romanian descent, I guess), a 17 year old who is already ranked in the top 200.

[bujilover]

Ankita's match has started. It's 3-all now, Ankita on serve. If she wins the R2 match, she will face Gatto-Monticone, Giulia who received a walkover from second seed Saisai Zheng.

Ankita takes the first set 6-4 Really close first set except for that one break that mattered. Took 50 minutes to finish the first set.
Ankita was leading 3-1 in the second set but gave away the advantage. But she broke Aksu again to serve for the match 5-3. Wins it 6-4 6-3

Also, Bianca lost the first set to Xinyu Gao 3-6. It'd be interesting to see if Karman takes care of her R2 opponent.

[sameerph]

Ankita leads 4-1 with a break in second set.

But she is broken back for 4-3.

[bujilover]

Ankita is in the best form of her life and I hope she continues the success with few more wins this week.

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,255) 6-4 6-3 Ayla AKSU (TUR,225)
[QF] Ankita Raina (IND,255) vs Giulia Gatto-Monticone (ITA,266) H2H 1:0 The pair met once in 2016 on clay in a German CH.

[Sin Hombre]

Great stuff from Ankita.

Live rankings shows her at a career best #211 and another win will take her inside the top 200. She is also up to #135 in the race.

[sameerph]

Yes, excellent win by Ankita against a player whom she had lost to last year and who had upset a seed in first round.