Qualifier Aditi Rawat beat Michika Ozeki of Japan, while Sandeepti Singh Rao defeated third seed Ekaterina Yashina.
Qualifier Aditi Rawat pulled off an upset against Michika Ozeki of Japan in the HCL $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the DLTA courts on Wednesday. Ozeki, seeded fourth in the main draw, was in fine form coming into the event, having won the ITF W15 event in Panipat last week.
Aditi grabbed her opportunities to beat Ozeki 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in the first round. The 18-year-old also avenged her loss to Ozeki in the W15 event in Gurugram in March. Aditi has been playing on the ITF circuit in Tunisia this month.
Indian players used the home advantage to their advantage as Sandeepti Singh Rao also took out third seed Ekaterina Yashina 1-6, 6-2, 6-1. She will now face wildcard Jensi Kanabar, the 14-year-old who reached the final of the Asian junior championship. Jensi defeated Jaya Kapoor 6-1, 6-1 in the first round.
Top seed Zeel Desai comfortably sailed through the first round with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Prathyusha Rachapudi. Zeel, ranked No. 511 in the WTA singles rankings, is back on the circuit after participating in the Billie Jean King Cup (Fed Cup) at the same venue earlier this month. Zeel was in the semi-final of the W15 event in Ch. Sambhaji Nagar when she received a national call-up from the Indian team due to injuries in the squad. Zeel gave a walkover in the semi-final against Elina Nepliy of Russia to join the Indian team in Delhi. Nepliy is also competing here and is seeded second.
EOM
