Ankita Raina navigates a tough opener against Valentini Grammatikopoulou

NAVI MUMBAI, DEC. 17:

Top seed Ankita Raina overcame an indifferent start to beat Valentini Grammatikopoulou of Greece 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the $40,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Ganesh Naik Complex on Tuesday.

In the pre-quarterfinals, Ankita will play Thasaporn Naklo of Thailand.

The champion of the tournament last week in Solapur, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty beat the runner-up of that event, Bunyawi Thamchaiwat of Thailand yet again, with a 6-4, 6-2 margin in the first round.

Shrivalli will play qualifier Zuzanna Pawlikowska of Poland in the second round.

Riya Bhatia beat compatriot Tanisha Kashyap 6-3, 6-4 to set up a pre-quarterfinal against eighth seed Priska Nugroho of Indonesia.

The results:

Singles (first round): Ankita Raina bt Valentini Grammatikopoulou (Gre) 1-6, 6-4, 6-4; Thasaporn Naklo (Tha) bt Diana Marcinkevica (Lat) 6-1, 7-5; Zuzanna Pawlikowska (Pol) bt Honoka Kobayashi (Jpn) 6-0, 6-1; Shrivalli Bhamidipaty bt Bunyawi Thamchaiwat (Tha) 6-4, 6-2; Naho Sato (Jn) bt Akanksha Nitture 7-6(