Asian Games: Raina progresses to quarterfinals; Ramkumar, Bhosale exit from singles

Ankita Raina advanced to the quarterfinals, but the singles challenge of Ramkumar Ramanathan and Rutuja Bhosale came to a halt

Hangzhou: Ankita Raina advanced to the quarterfinals with yet another easy victory but the singles challenge of Ramkumar Ramanathan and Rutuja Bhosale came to a halt at the Asian Games here on Tuesday.

Raina, the top Indian singles player, cruised to a 6-1 6-2 win over Hong Kong’s Adithya P Karunaratne in the third round of the women’s singles event.

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The Indian, ranked 198, converted all three breakpoints she got in the one hour 34-minute contest and saved two of the three breakpoints she faced against her 354th-ranked rival.

She will now fight it out with Japan’s Haruka Kaji (ranked 213) for a place in the semifinals.

Ranked 336, Bhosale was up against high-ranked Alexandra Eala (190) from Philippines and went down fighting 6-7(5) 2-6 in one hour and 51 minutes.

In the men’s singles, Ramkumar took the court against world number 78 Yosuke Watanuki and it was always going to be a tough contest for the Indian, who has been terribly out of form this season.

To his credit, Ramkumar stretched his superior Japanese rival, who had to battle hard for his 7-5 6-7(3) 7-5 win in two hours and 40 minute match.

Both Ramkumar and Bhosale are still alive in the doubles competitions.