Ankita, Rutuja progress to pre-QFs

Hangzhou: India’s top singles tennis player Ankita Raina was off to a flying start while Rutuja Bhosale struggled past lower-ranked Aruzhan Sagandikova to move into the women’s singles pre-quarterfinals at the Asian Games here on Monday.

Raina did not lose a single game in her second-round match and required just 51 minutes to send packing 17-year-old Sabrina

Olimjonova from Uzbekistan 6-0, 6-0.

Ranked 198th in singles and winner of a bronze medal from the 2018 edition, third seed Raina will now clash with Adithya P Karunaratne from Hong Kong for a place in the last-eight stage.

Sagandikova is ranked as low as 746 but it was far from an easy match for the Bhosale, who needed two hours and one minute to go past her rival from Kazakhstan7-6(2), 6-2.