WTA125Ks - Mumbai (Oct 29th), Taipei (Nov 11th)

[sameerph]

All over.

[R1] (Q)Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND, 288) l. Luksika Kumkhum (THA, 103) 63 57 16

Opportunity lost. But, Pranjala is certainly playing at a much higher level than when I saw her last. Her backhand was always her stregth and she can hit winners from that flank. But forehand, serve, court coverage have all improved.Should move up towards top 200 soon.

[jayakris]

What a way to lose. Still, she showed she has it in her to play very well against top players, and she should keep moving up. But what is with all these losses by our players, one after another, from 5-3 up in the second? It feels like we have had a whole bunch lately.

[PKBasu]

Humdinger in progress:

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND, 197) vs W-Rutuja Bhosale (IND, 366) 46 62 55

[bujilover]

A stiff battle going on between Ankita - Rutuja, into the 3rd set tiebreaker and Ankita looks weary. 2-2 at the moment. What a treat for the local fans. Smelling an upset here!

Edit: Not to be, Rutuja fought back from a 2-5 deficit in the TB but Ankita wins it 7-5. Experience prevails!

R1 Ankita Raina 4-6 6-2 7-6 Rutuja Bhosale

Plays Danka Kovinic next. Ankita has beaten her once during their junior days (9 years back) but Danka was in top-50 a couple of years ago, so this will be a tough match. Ankita!

[PKBasu]

Great fight from Rutuja, but congrats to the India #1 for pulling through to make R2.

[sameerph]

And with that win, Ankita moved ahead of Karman in live ranking - 191 to 196 and will stay as India #1 next Monday.

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,197) vs. Danca Kovinic (MNE,194)

Tough match against similar ranked player. Kovinic was a top 50 players a couple of years back. But, this year she has not been playing at that level. Karman beat Kovinic in 3 sets at Guangzhou WTA in September. So, hope Ankita can pull off a win here.

[bujilover]

Does not look good for Ankita. Trailing 2-6 4-4 at the moment.

[jaydeep]

After losing the first set easily Ankita tried fightback but Kovinic completed win in straight sets.

At $125K Mumbai Open 2018, India

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,197) l Danka Kovinic (MNE,194) 26 57

[PKBasu]

Disappointing show by the Indian contingent in this home tournament. Ankita should have won this match against someone Karman had beaten earlier in the year.

[jaydeep]

The Indian challenge is over after the doubles loss of Rutuja ... Rutuja and Hiroko had a tough match against the top-seeds pair ... They gave a decent performance against the favorite.

At $125K Mumbai Open 2018, India

[QF] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Hiroko Kuwata (JPN) l (1) Dalila Jakupovic (SLO)/ Irina Khromacheva (RUS) 36 36

[sameerph]

Yes, disappointing loss for Ankita but it seems she is still not 100% after recovering from a bout of dengue-

India goes mum

It must be said Raina is nowhere near peak fitness. Speaking to this paper in the morning before the match, Ankita admitted she’d been functioning only at “85 per cent efficiency” having recently recovered from a bout of dengue that afflicted her during the Jakarta Games.

[sameerph]

Thai Luksika Kumlhum goes on and wins the title in Mumbai beating top seed Sai Sai Zhang in the QF. What an escape for her coming back from being 2 points away from being beaten by Pranjala in the first round.

[jayakris]

Such an uninteresting event this turned out to be, for Indians. Congrats to Luksika though. Hope somebody gave her a Khumkhum bindi.

[Omkara]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BpwhYqChwOX ... mb1ro8pn4p

Yup someone wore a bindi for sure.

[sameerph]

Ankita made the main draw while Karman is playing qualies at WTA 125K in Taipei.

At WTA 125K Taipei OEC Open, Taipei

[Q1] (2) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,198) d. (WC) Kwan Yau NG (HKG,841) 64 64

Next,

[Q2] (2) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,198) vs. (6) Yuxuan Zhang (CHN,213)

Karman is 1-1 against Zhang both matches being played this year.