The Hindu : Sport : Martina rallies past Shweta, Justina has it easy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 02, 2005

Sport

Sport

Martina rallies past Shweta, Justina has it easy

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 1. Two Swiss girls caused a ripple as they moved into the second round of the Adidas ITF junior grade II tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Tuesday.

Martina Lautenschlager, the 16-year-old, played a smart game to pip G. K. Shweta 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 and 14-year-old Justina Derungs had it easy as the fourth-seeded Venise Chan of Hong Kong conceded after losing five games.

In a baseline duel, Martina was more athletic, determined and executed her strokes better. Shweta had her chances, but tended to mishit especially in the decider when she went for sharp shots.

The Indian challenge was held firm by Sandhya Nagaraj and Madura Ranganathan as they cruised into the pre-quarterfinals.

The top-seeded Xeniya Palkina of Kyrgyzstan was stretched by Denise Dy of Philippines in two well-contested sets, and will meet Poojashree Venkatesh in the second round.

In the boys event, the No.1 seeded Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan was fluent in beating wild card entrant Nithyaesh Nataraj. Jeevan combined well with Sanam Singh later in the doubles, and will be keen to add valuable points to boost his ranking further.

Xiao Peng Lai of Hong Kong, who had finished runner-up to Jeevan last week in Kolkata, lost in the first round to Agung Bagus Dewantoro of Indonesia in three sets.

Qualifier Honey Rana played well to get past the seventh-seeded Tejasvi Rao who retired with a shin injury midway through the second set.

The results:

Boys (first round): Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Nithyaesh Nataraj 6-3, 6-3; Faisal Aidil (Ina) bt Allan Gomes 6-1, 6-4; Agung Bagus Dewantoro (Ina) bt Xiao-Peng Lai (Hkg) 6-2, 5-7, 6-4; Vaja Uzakov (Uzb) bt Akash Wagh 6-1, 6-1; Honey Rana bt Tejasvi Rao 6-4, 3-1 (conceded).

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sanam Singh/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Kinshuk Sharma/ Akash Wagh 6-1, 6-4; Rikus Devilliers/ Brad Brinkhause (RSA) bt Kanagraj Balakrishnan (Mas)/ Manish Rao 6-1, 6-1; Christopher Rungkat (Ina)/ Kaushik Raju bt Aleksey Namozov (Uzb)/ Andrei Plotnyi (Rus) 6-4, 6-4; Petr Dostal (Cze)/ Ayrton Wibowo (Ina) bt Allan Gomes/ Akash Gujarati 6-3, 5-7, 7-5; Krishna Karsolia/ Rahul Belwal bt Ned Boone (GBR)/ Christian Hodel (Rom) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3; Faisal Aidil/ Agung Bagus Dewantoro (Ina) bt Nithyaesh Nataraj/ Siddharth Alapati 6-2, 6-3; Xiao-Peng Lai/ Ronald Chow (Hkg) bt Honey Rana/ Kaushik Das 6-1, 6-0; Vivek Shokeen/ Sumit Prakash Gupta bt Stas Zhuravski (Rus)/ Vaja Uzakov (Uzb) 6-2, 6-2.

Girls (first round): Xeniya Palkina (Kgz) bt Denise Dy (Phi) 7-5, 6-4; Martina Lautenschlager (Sui) bt G. K. Shweta 5-7, 6-2, 7-5; Madura Ranganathan bt Akshita Raj 6-3, 6-1; Dominice Ripoll (Ger) bt Claudia Sanuja (RSA) 6-1, 6-1; Justina Derungs (Sui) bt Venise Chan (Hkg) 5-0 (conceded); Amina Rakhim (Kaz) bt Mariya Malkhasyan (Ukr) 6-0, 7-5; Sandhya Nagaraj bt Jilke Nelord 6-2, 6-3.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Madura Ranganathan/ Sandhya Nagaraj bt Denise Dy (Phi)/ Dilyara Saidkhodjayeva (Uzb) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; Daria Bykodarova (Rus)/ Penporn Chantawannop bt Neha Rana and Vishaka Sheoran 6-4, 6-4; Laura-Loana Andrei (Rom)/ Justina Derungs (Sui) bt Claudia Sanua/ Else Potgieter (RSA) 6-3, 6-4; Nigora Sirojiddinova (Uzb)/ Mariya Kovaleva (Kaz) bt Mariya Malkhasyan/ Iryna Khatsko (Ukr) 7-5, 7-6 (4); Dominice Ripoll (Ger)/ Martina Lautenschlager (Sui) bt Asha Nandakumar/ Akshita Raj 6-4, 6-1; Poojashree Venkatesh/ Parija Maloo w/o Venise Chan (Hkg)/ Suzelle Davin (Nam); Sandri Gangothri/ G. K. Shweta bt Yulia Parasyuk (Rus)/ Eleonora Sitdjemileva (Uzb) 6-4, 6-4; Amina Rakhim (Kaz)/ Xenia Palkina (Kgz) bt Yanina Wickmayer/ Goele Lemmens (Bel) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

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