It was the second victory in three meetings for the 18-year-old Riya against Shweta, who did well to recover from being down 1-4 in the second set to make a fight of it.
In fact, Shweta, who had managed to win a solitary game in the first set after saving six breakpoints in holding serve in the fourth game, did lead 5-4 in the second set. However, Riya stroked better to save a setpoint in the tenth game, and eventually turned the tide in her favour decisively.
In the pre-quarterfinals, Riya will challenge sixth seed Prarthana Thombare, who she had beaten in a thriller of a quarterfinal in Hyderabad in a similar tournament earlier this season.
THE RESULTS: Singles (first round): Rishika Sunkara bt Isha Budwal 6-0, 6-0; Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy w.o. Dharana Mudaliar; Dhruthi Venugopal bt Sneha Padamata 6-1, 6-1; Eetee Maheta bt Akshara Isska 6-1, 6-0; Nidhi Chilumula bt Vasavi Ganesan 6-0, 6-1; Riya Bhatia bt Shweta Rana 6-1, 7-5; Arthi Muniyan bt Aayushi Chouhan 6-1, 6-2; Prerna Bhambri bt Amrita Mukherjee 6-1, 6-2.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sharmadaa Baluu & Prarthana Thombare bt Teertha Iska & Amrita Mukherjee 6-0, 6-4; Rushmi Chakravarthi & Natasha Palha bt Arthi Muniyan & Amreen Naaz 6-2, 6-2; Akshara Iska & Preethi Ujjini bt Arantxa Andrady & Shivika Burman 6-3, 1-6, [10-3].