$25,000 ITF women’s tennis: Fifth-seed Yamalapalli beats Japan’s Koshishi in first round

Fifth seed Sahaja Yamalapalli warmed up for the challenges ahead with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Ayumi Koshishi of Japan in the first round of the Federal Bank $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Tennis Project, Baliawas, on Wednesday.

Sahaja stroked with intensity and converted four of eight break points to snuff the Japanese challenge. She did drop serve once but overall handled her service games with competence.

In the pre-quarterfinals, Sahaja will play Riya Bhatia who has been without match practice for some time. Riya overcame the fluent play of qualifier Anjali Rathi 7-6(5), 6-4.

Riya did well to make the doubles quarterfinals with Michika Ozeki of Japan.

Qualifier Vaishnavi Adkar unleashed her forceful strokes on both flanks to beat Akiko Omae of Japan in three sets. Vaishnavi will next face the top seed, the 218th ranked Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia.

Shirvalli Bhamidipaty had little trouble in getting past the Japanese qualifier Ikumi Yamazaki. She will face seventh seed Jacqueline Cabaj Awad of Sweden in the second round.