Saturday 27 / April / 2024
Muscat: A day after reaching the quarterfinals of the doubles competition, Fatma Al Nabhani was made it toil in the first round of the singles in the $25,000 ITF Pro Circuit Pune Open on Tuesday.
In her first round match played at Balewadi Sports Complex in the western Indian city of Pune, the Omani star has to dig deep before overcoming India’s Yadlapalli Pranjala for a 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4 victory.
In Wednesday’s second round, Fatma will square off against sixth-seeded Ana Veselinovic of Montenegro.
Veselinovic advanced to the second round after overcoming a late challenge from Indian qualifier Salsa Aher in a 6-1, 7-5 win.
Wednesday will also see Fatma and her Khazakhstan partner Ksenia Palkina play their doubles quarterfinal match against Berfu Eengiz of Turkey and Karin Kennel of Switzerland.
Fatma and Ksenia moved into the last eight stage after defeating Indian wildcards Salsa Aher and Sai Dedeepya 6-3, 6-1 in a first round match on Monday.
Berfu and Karin also had an easy outing in the first round when they upset second seeds Olesya Pervushina of Russia and Valeriya Strakhova of Ukraine 6-1, 6-3.
