Riya Bhatia was the lone Indian to advance to the second qualifying round of the $100,000 KPB Trust Women’s Open at the KSLTA courts here on Monday.

The wildcard entrant outplayed Japan’s Eri Shimizu, the 11^th seed, 6-1, 6-3 in a little over an hour to advance to the final qualifying round. Serving big throughout the match, the 27-year-old Bhatia had her rival in all sorts of trouble.

Despite being ranked over 350 spots below her rival, the Indian, ranked 698, was off to a flier, wrapping up the opening set in a jiffy. After a slight lapse in concentration, Bhatia regrouped in time to clinch the second set and with it the match.

Earlier, the tall Kamran Kaur Thandi too began with a flourish against Amina Anshba of Russia. But a back injury midway through the second set checked the Indian’s charge. She did play on gamely and lost 6-4, 3-6, 2-6.

The other three Indians in the fray – Sreenidhi Balaji, Amodini Naik and Zeel Desai – bowed out in straight sets.

The country’s biggest ITF tournament is sponsored by KPB Family Trust, Dafa News, Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru, Oriental Lotus, MSIL and Vaia Climate.

Qualifying results (Round 1): Riya Bhatia (Ind) bt Eri Shimizu (Jpn) 6-1, 6-3; Tina Nadine Smith (Aus) bt Sreenidhi Balaji (Ind); Mei Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt Zeel Desai (Ind) 6-3, 7-5; Amina Anshba (Rus) bt Karman kaur Thandi (Ind) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Iryna Shymanovich (Blr) bt Amodini Naik (Ind) 6-3, 6-0; Alice Robbe (Fra) bt Maria Jose Portillo Ramirez (Mex) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5); Priska Madelyn Nugroho (Ina) bt Ekaterina Yashina (Rus) 6-3, 7-5.

Daria Kudashova (Rus) bt Kira Pavlova (Rus) 3-6, 6-1, 6-3; Petra Marcinko (Cro) bt Ekaterina Kazionova (Rus) 6-2, 6-1; Anastasia Tikhonova (Rus) bt Jessica Failla (US) 6-3, 7-5; Maria Kozyreva (Rus) bt Lina Glushko (Isr) 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5); Saki Imamura (Jpn) bt Diana Marcinkevica (Lat) 6-2, 6-0; Janice Tjen (Ina) bt Alana Smith (US) 6-4, 4-0 (retd.); Fangran Tian (Chn) bt Alevtina Ibragimova (Rus) 6-2, 6-2; Dalila Jakupovic (Slo) bt Ekaterina Maklakova (Rus) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.