Singapore Open'18 Day 1: Mastermind Ruthvika Cruises into Pre-Quarters

Commonwealth Games Mixed Team champion Gadde Ruthvika Shivani entered second round after defeating Linda Zetchiri of Bulgaria with 21-15, 17-21, 21-16 at the ongoing Singapore Open 2018 Super 300 World Tour Tournament.

Ruthvika grabbed the first point with 1-0 before allowing her opponent with 2 points, and both the players exchanged the leads till leveling the score at 6-6. By the half time, Linda was with a two-point advantage with 11-9 score. The Bulgarian managed to score another point by 12-10 to her advantage, from where Ruthvika struggled to reach her opponent and played better to seal the opening game.

It was a little unpredictable to choose between the players till 6-6. The 30-year-old Linda, ranked 44 in the BWF World Rankings, with all her experience pulled the gear and increased the gap gradually pushing the match to the decider.

Third game was very unlike the previous two. Linda let Ruthvika to win the points with an ease, who eventually saved the match.

Ruthvika will now face the fifth seed Sayaka Takahashi of Japan in the Pre-Quarters match on Thursday.

In another match of Women's Singles, Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka lost to the prodigy Minatsu Mitani of Japan in two straight sets after very close encounter in the first game with 19-21, 7-21 in the match that lasted for 27 minutes.

The 16-year-old Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka gave the tough challenge to the senior in the first game, in which the game went as intense as it can be with the gap of not more than three points. The Indian led the game with two points advantage of 8-6 and never settled till shuttlers reached 19-19. In the second game, Vaishnavi lost the momentum to the Japanese advantage.

While, Rituparna Das progressed to the next round just like her opponent Sabrina Jaquet of Switzerland, the former leading the first game with 5-3 during the 5th minute of the match.

The Indian will now face Yulia Yosephin Susanto from Indonesia in the next round.