Ankita Raina, Prarthana Thombare enter doubles quarter-finals at ITF Women's Open

The Indian pair of Ankita Raina and Prarthana Thombare produced an impressive come-from-behind win to enter the doubles quarter-finals of the ITF Women's Open.

The No. 2 seeded duo defeated the wildcard Indo-German pair of Sharmada Balu and Sarah Rebecca Sekulic 5-7 6-3 10-6 in a thrilling Round-of-16 match that lasted for close to two hours.

The third-seeded Indo-Swedish pair of Rutuja Bhosale and Jacqueline Awad also advanced to the last-eight stage after defeating Ji Hee Choi (South Korea) and Lee Ya-Hsuan (Taipei) 6-4 6-2.

The ongoing tournament is part of the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour and it is hosted by the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA). The all-Indian pair of Pragathi Narayan and Prathiba Narayan, on the other hand, exited in the Round of-16 following a 4-6 2-6 defeat against Anastasia Kovaleva and Hanna Vinahradava.

A similar fate was in store for another all-Indian pair of Vaidehi Chaudhari and Shrivalli Rashmikaa who gave a tough fight to the fancied duo to Slovenia's Dalilia Jakupovic, a former World No. 38, and Amandine Hesse of France before going down 6-7 (5) 7-5 5-10.

In the singles opening round, Japanese Ikumi Yamazaki stunned the third-seeded Sakura Hosogi 5-7, 3-6. Bengaluru girl Sharmada, a wild card entrant, however, lost to No. 8 seed Eden Silva of Britain 2-6, 4-6.