Jennifer Luikham makes main draw of $25,000 women's event

Jennifer Luikham sailed past Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty 6-2, 6-3 to set up a first round against fourth seed Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia in the Bhavna Swarup $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Services Club.

Interestingly, all the eight seeded players won the second and final qualifying round to make the main draw on grass. Ashmitha Easwaramurthi, Natasha Palha and NIdhi Chilumula were the other Indian players to qualify into the main event.

None of the Indian players have been seeded in the main draw. Zeel Desai will open against Michika Ozeki of Japan, while two-time national champion Mahak Jain will challenge third seed Natalija Kostic of Serbia.

Four-time national champion Prerna Bhambri will open against qualifier Alexandra Riley of the US. Riya Bhatia, who had won the last national grass court title, beating Nidhi Chilumula, will have her first round against second seed Nastja Kolar of Slovenia.

The results:
Qualifying singles (second and final round): Alexandra Riley (US) bt Sai Dedeepya 6-1, 6-0; Albina Khabibulina (Uzb) bt Avika Sagwal 6-4, 6-3; Anna Makhorkina (Rus) bt Rishika Sunkara 6-0, 6-4; Dan Ni wang (Chn) bt Deeksha Manju Prasad 6-0, 6-2; Ashmitha Easwaramurthi bt Soha Sadiq 6-3, 5-7, 6-3; Natasha Palha bt Arthi Muniyan 6-2, 6-0; Jenifer Lukham bt Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty 6-2, 6-3; Nidhi Chilumula bt Prathyusha Rachapudi 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

The seedings: 1. Hiroko Kuwata (Jpn), 2. Natja Kolar (Slo), 3. Natalija Kostic (Srb), 4. Tereza Mihalikova (Svk), 5. Kyoka Okamura (Jpn), 6. Sarah-Rebecca Sekulic (Ger), 7. Aleksandrina Naydenova (Bul), 8. Ksenia Palkina (Kgz).