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Riya Bhatia fought hard before losing her women's singles pre-quarterfinal to fourth seed Yuriko Lily Miyazaki in a three-setter but she later reached the doubles semifinals, while Ankita Raina also made the last-four stage with her partner at the ITF W50 tournament on Thursday.
Former national champion Riya was the lone Indian surviving in the singles, a day after six Indian players made the first-round exit, but her campaign also ended with her 4-6 6-4 1-6 defeat against the British player, as stated in a release from ITF W50. However, later Riya combined with compatriot Vaidehi Chaudhary to beat M J Portillo Ramirez and Ekaterina Yoshina in the quarterfinals. The Indian pair came from behind to eke out a 4-6 6-3 10-5 win in one hour and 25 minutes to progress to the next round. They will now compete against the pair of Ankita Raina and American pair Naiktah Bains, who knocked out second seeds Dalila Jakupovic and Laura Pigossi 6-2 3-6 10-3 in the other quarterfinals. Since both Ankita and Riya feature in the bottom of the draw, they will clash in the semifinals which means that at least one Indian will be in contention for the women's doubles title. In the top half, Prarthana Thombare and her British partner Alicia Barnett gave a tough fight to the top-seeded pair of Mariya Kozyreva and Anastasia Tikhonova but lost their quarterfinal to 5-7 3-6. Tikhonova also made the singles quarterfinals with her 7-6(6) 3-6 6-2 win over Japan's Naho Sato. Top seed Darja Semenistja also booked her slot in the last eight with an easy 6-2 6-0 win over qualifier Ekaterina Maklakova. (ANI)
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