Bangalore: Three Indians - Nidhi Chilmula, Ankita Raina and Rishika Sunkara - made it to the main draw of the $25,000 ITF Open women's tennis championship here Sunday after winning their final qualifying round matches.
Nidhi waged a seesaw battle against Martina Caciotti of Italy for nearly over two hours to post a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 victory and book her berth in the main draw.
Ankita, belting her double handed backhand with strong first serve, outclassed Misa Kinoshita of Japan 6-2, 6-2. She raced to a 4-0 lead in the first set and simply kept up the tempo.
Rishika defeated her Turkish rival Seda Arantekin 6-0, 6-2, while Rushmi Chakravarthi was the lone Indian casualty in the final qualifying round as she lost to Nungnadda Wannasukof Thailand 1-6, 1-6.
In the first round on Monday, wild card Prerna Bhambri will meet the top seed Tamaryn Hendler of Belgium while Nidhi Chilmula will face the eighth seed Melanie Klaffner of Austria while Rishika Sunkara takes on Nicole Clerico of Italy and Ankita Raina will play fifth seed Tadeja Majeric of Slovakia. (IANS)
