Ramya natarajan, VM Ranjeet make semifinals

 Ramya Natarajan battled past Reina Takahashi of Japan 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(6) in the quarterfinlas of the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Korea on Friday.

The Japanese had earlier beaten the top seed Hanyu Guo of China in straight sets. Ramya will play wild cad Sohyun Park of Korea in the semifinals.

In the ITF men’s Futures tournament in China, VM Ranjeet continued with his good run and beat Wang Ruixuan of China in three sets to make the semifinals.

In the doubles final, however, Anirudh Chandrasekar and PC Vignesh were beaten by the top seeds Jeremy Beale of Australia and Luca Castelnuovo of Switzerland 10-3 in the super tie-break.

In the ITF junior tournament in Mauritius, 15-year-old Malikaa Marathe beat Maretha Burger of South Africa 6-3, 6-2 in the final, for her maiden title. In the last tournament at the same venue, Malikaa had lost to the eventual champion in the quarterfinals.

The results:

$15,000 ITF men, Anning, China
Singles (quarterfinals): VM Ranjeet bt Wang Ruixuan (Chn) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Doubles (final): Jeremy Beale (Aus) & Luca Castelnuovo (Sui) bt Anirudh Chandrasekar & PC Vignesh 6-3, 3-6, [10-3].

$15,000 ITF women, Nonthaburi, Thailand
Doubles (semifinals): Lu Jiaxi (Chn) & Riya Bhatia bt Kamonwan Buayam & Patcharin Cheapchandej (Tha) 6-2, 7-6(4).

$15,000 ITF women, Yeongwol, Korea
Singles (quarterfinals): Ramya Natarajan bt Reina Takahashi (Jpn) 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(6).

Doubles (quarterfinals): Hanna Chang (US) & Ying Zhang (Chn) w.o. Reina Takahashi (Jpn) & Ashmitha Easwaramurthi; Pre-quarterfinals: Reina Takahashi & Ashmitha Easwaramurthi bt Nikita Uberoi & Rushri
Wijesundera (US) 6-2, 4-1 (retired).

ITF grade-5 juniors, Phoenix, Mauritius
Girls (final): Malikaa Marathe bt Maretha Burger (RSA) 6-3, 6-2.