Top seed Ankita in ITF semifinals

Chennai: Top seed Ankita Raina fought back from a set down to beat eighth seed Eetee Maheta in a gruelling three setter in the quarterfinals of the Sanmar group ITF Women`s Tennis Championship at Madras Gymkhana Courts here on Thursday.

Eetee Maheta started well, serving and stroking fluently, to win the first set 6-4. In the second set, Ankita found her groove and with her deep ground strokes constantly troubling Eetee. Gaining in confidence, she won the second set 6-4. Eetee put up a brave fight in the third set and was ahead till 4-3. Ankita, on the other hand, was having problems with her service in the windy, humid conditions. Despite that, Ankita held her nerve to level scores at 4 all and went ahead 5-4. In the final game, she dominated Eetee`s serve and made her place in the semifinals. The officials regretted for an error in yesterday`s results where it was mentioned that Shweta Rana had beaten Angelique Svinos but the actual result was that Angelique Svinos had beaten Shweta Rana in three sets 7-6 (7), 1-6, 6-2. Results: Singles Ankita Raina (IND) [1] Beat Eetee Maheta (IND) [8] 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; Angelique Svinos (AUS) Beat Xi-Yao Wang (CHN) 1-6, 6 6-4, 6-0; Natasha Palha (IND) [6] Beat Mahitha Dadi Reddy (IND) 6-2, 6-3; Barbara Bonic (SRB) [7] Beat Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) [4] 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. PTI