Sunitha Rao survived anxious moments before getting past Russia’s Vesna Manasieva in the opening round of the Bangalore Open qualifiers at the KSLTA courts here on Saturday.

She scored a hard-fought 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 win to keep the Indian challenge alive. The other four in the fray, including three wild carders, fell by the wayside. Sunitha, ranked 191 in the world, takes on Junri Namigata, who outclassed Rushmi Chakravarthi 6-2, 6-1.

Sanaa Bhambri had her chances to join Sunitha in the second round, but failed to play the big points well against Monique Adamczak, losing 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 1-6. Sanaa and Ankita, and Akshitha Basavaraju came a cropper, going down without a whimper. Meanwhile, the draw ceremony will be held at the Raj Bhavan at 12.30 pm.

Results:  Qualifying (I round): Melanie South (GBR) bt Ayumi Morita (Jpn) 4-6, 6-0, 6-0; Ekaterine Dzehalevich (Blr) bt Magda Mihalache (Rou) 6-1, 6-4; Khrystyna Antoniychuk (Ukr) bt Aurelie Vedy (Fra) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1; Monique Adamczak (Aus) bt Sanaa Bhambri (Ind) 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1; Agnes Szatmari (Rou) bt Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Sui) 6-1, 3-6, 6-4; Hsuan Hwang (Tpe) bt Mathilde Johansson (Fra) 7-5, 6-1.

Kathrin Woerle (Ger) bt Ankita Bhambri (Ind) 6-2, 6-1; Anne Keothavong (Gbr) bt Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) 6-2, 6-4; Corinna Dentoni (Ita) bt Andreja Klepac (Slo) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5); Sunitha Rao (Ind) bt Vesna Manasieva (Rus) 6-4, 2-6, 7-5; Junri Namigata (Jpn) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi (Ind) 6-2, 6-1; Tiantian Sun (Chn) bt Akshitha Basavaraju (Ind) 6-1, 6-0; Monica Niculescu (Rou) bt Neha Uberoi (USA) 6-4, 6-2; Angelika Bachmann (Ger) bt Iroda Tulyaganova (Uzb) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1; Alexandra Stevenson (USA) bt Shengnan Sun (Chn) 7-5, 6-3.