The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Indian challenge ends

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 08, 2005

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Indian challenge ends

MUMBAI, APRIL 7. The Indian challenge came to an end as third seed Rushmi Chakravarthy and compatriots Punam Reddy and Shruti Dhawan crashed out of the $10,000 ITF women's tennis tournament here on Thursday.

Rushmi was shocked by unseeded Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-4, 6-2 in one of the biggest upsets in the competition.

Punam and Shruti extended their fancied opponents before bowing out. Second seed Montinee Tangphong of Thailand prevailed over Punam 1-6, 6-1, 6-0.

Seventh seed Yurika Sema of Japan took two hours to overcome wild card Shruti 3-6, 6-2, 6-2

Shruti got off to a good start when she clinched the opening set with breaks in the fourth and eighth games. The Indian was broken in the fifth game but nevertheless forged ahead to take a 1-0 lead.

Shruti surprisingly lost her way after enjoying a 3-2 lead in the second set, which allowed Sema to bounce back to seal her place in the semifinals.

In Thursday's semifinals, Sema will take on Tangphong, while Buzarnescu will face top-seed Chi-Wei Chan of Chinese Taipei who crushed fifth seed Natsumi Hamamura of Japan 6-1, 6-0.

The results:

Singles (quarterfinals): Chi-Wei Chan (Tpe) bt Natsumi Hamamura (Jpn) 6-1, 6-0; Yurika Sema (Jpn) bt Shruti Dhawan (Ind) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2; Mihaela Buzarnescu (Rom) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi (Ind) 6-4, 6-2; Montinee Tangphong (Thai) bt Punam Reddy (Ind) 1-6, 6-1, 6-0.

Doubles (semifinals): Sanaa Bhambri/Mihaela Buzarnescu bt Rushmi Chakravarthy/Sai-Jayalakshmy Jayaram 6-4, 6-2; Chin-Wei Chan/Julia Vorobieva bt Natsumi Hamamura/Yurika Sema 6-1, 6-3. — UNI

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