The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : No sweat for Yuki Bhambri

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 02, 2005

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Sport - Tennis

No sweat for Yuki Bhambri

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, APRIL 1. Yuki Bhambri, the second youngest boy in the tournament behind compatriot Mansingh Athare who also made the quarterfinals, beat Tito Hutauruk of Indonesia 6-3, 6-0 in the pre-quarterfinals of the ITF Asian under-14 tennis championship at the DLTA Complex here on Friday.

The 12-year-old from Delhi, Yuki, played increasingly well as the match progressed and did not allow much room for the Indonesian to showcase his game. The wiry Yuki, who is learning his craft quite fast, will next challenge the second-seeded Tsung-Hua Yang of Chinese Taipei who asserted himself by blanking Mohammadi Arsalan of Iran.

The third-seeded Christopher Marquis went through another three-setter in downing Roman Piftor of Uzbekistan, and will meet Pao Wichayaketsophorn of Thailand.

In a battle between two Indians, Mansingh Athare overcame a stiff resistance from Ronak Manuja in three sets after losing the first. He will next meet the fourth-seeded Ryan Cheung of Hong Kong.

Shweta sizzles

In the girls' section, the fifth-seeded Shweta Kumari Solanki continued to impress as she breezed past Chellapriya Vythinathan of Malaysia. However, the real challenge will be in the quarterfinals when Shweta meets Noopawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand, who packed off the second-seeded Alexandra Kolesnichenko of Uzbekistan in a marathon three-setter.

The other Indian girl to make the quarterfinals was the eighth-seeded Janaki Rao, who will also have a tough quarterfinal when she meets the fourth-seeded Nicha Lertpitaksinchai of Thailand.

The top-seeded Albina Khabibulina of Uzbekistan beat Aishwariya Srivastava and the sixth-seeded Beatrice Gumulya of Indonesia put paid to the hopes of Prerna Mythri in an extended tie-break in the second set.

The results (pre-quarterfinals): Boys: Pattrayu Chumpetch (Tha) bt Nam Lam (Vie) 6-1, 6-2; Cheng-Peng Hsieh (Tpe) bt Alexander Chen (Uzb) 6-2, 6-2; Ryan Cheung (Hkg) bt Chung-Su Chen (Tpe) 6-4, 6-3; Mansingh Athare bt Ronak Manuja 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; Pao Wichayaketsophorn (Tha) bt Bouhamad Mansour (Kuw) 6-4, 6-0; Christopher Marquis bt Roman Piftor (Uzb) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3; Yuki Bhambri bt Tito Farulian Hutauruk (Ina) 6-3, 6-0; Tsung-Hua Yang (Tpe) bt Mohammadi Arsalan (Irn) 6-0, 6-0.

Girls: Albina Khabibulina (Uzb) bt Aishwariya Srivastava 6-4, 6-3; Beatrice Gumulya (Ina) bt Prerna Mythri 6-3, 7-6 (8); Nicha Lertpitaksinchai (Tha) bt Yen-Ling Chen (Tpe) 6-7 (9), 6-2, 6-1; Janaki Rao bt Neesha Thirumalaichelvam (Mas) 6-3, 6-3; Geraldine Leong (Hkg) bt Ainur Sumekenova (Kaz) 6-1, 6-0; Yun Ku (Tpe) bt Karyn Emeralda (Ina) 6-4, 0-6, 6-3; Shweta KumariSolanki bt Chellapriya Vythinathan (Mas) 6-2, 6-3; Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (Tha) bt Alexandra Kolesnichenko (Uzb) 6-7 (6), 6-1, 7-5.

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