The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Ashmitha surprises Shweta

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Thursday, Sep 15, 2005

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Sport - Tennis

Ashmitha surprises Shweta

Sports Reporter

CHENNAI: E. Ashmitha shocked junior National champion and second-seeded G.K. Shweta 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals of the PNB-Triangle Tennis Trust ITF junior (under-18) championship at the TTT courts here on Wednesday.

Shweta raced to a 3-1 lead in the first set, breaking Ashmitha in the first game. But Ashmitha came back to win the next six games, hitting winners from the backcourt. Once she took a 4-1 lead in the second set, there was no stopping her. Ashmitha meets V. Poojashree in the semifinals.

The top seed Sandri Gangothri defeated Sushrutha Reddy 6-4, 6-3 to earn a clash with Vandana Murali, a 6-4, 6-2 winner over Kelsey Sundaram.

In the boys' section, second-seeded Rohan Gide of Maharashtra survived a tough second set to defeat Statemate Peter Agnel Gladwin 6-2, 7-6(5) in two hours and 40 minutes.

Closing out the first set in 40 minutes with solid play from the baseline, Gide was on cruise mode in the second set too. Serving to stay in the contest at 3-5, Gladwin not only held serve but also had two setpoints at 6-5. He, however, lost both.

Tough for Ashwin

Ashwin Vijayaraghavan, the eighth seed, overcame a stiff challenge from Gilbert Tze Chun Wong of Hong Kong before prevailing 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-0. Ashwin will face G.P. Prajnesh, who outlasted Sushanth Nambiar 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-2.

Ashwin was two points away from clinching the issue in the second set but Wong broke the Andhra lad and went on to win the set. However, Ashwin found his rhythm again and his precise groundstrokes gave Wong no chance in the decider.

The results (quarterfinals, Indians unless otherwise mentioned):

Boys: G.P. Prajnesh bt Sushanth Nambiar 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-2; Ashwin Vijayaraghavan bt Gilbert Tze Chun Wong (Hkg) 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-0; Allan Gomes bt Priyank Gangadharan 6-2, 6-0; Rohan Gide bt Peter Agnel Gladwin 6-2, 7-6(5).

Girls: Sandri Gangothri bt Sushrutha Reddy 6-4, 6-3; Vandana Murali bt Kelsey Sundaram 6-4, 6-2; V. Poojashree bt Parija Maloo 4-6, 7-5, 6-1; E. Ashmitha bt G.K. Shweta 6-3, 6-2.

Boys doubles (second round): Gursher Harika & Anshuman Dutta bt Kaushik Das & Mesheer Vaswani 6-1, 7-5; Sriram Balaji & Navaneetha Kannan bt Ankit Patel & Rahul Belwal 7-6 (3), 7-5; Gilbert Tze Chun Wong & Ryan Cheung bt Akash Wagh & G.P. Prajnesh 6-4, 5-7, 6-4; Agnel Peter Gladwin & Allan Gomes bt Ashwin Vijayraghavan & Vikram Reddy 6-4, 6-3.

Girls doubles: (second round): Sandri Gangothri & Vandana Murali bt Nandita Krishnan & Anushree Thammana 6-0,6-0; Akshita Raj & Parija Maloo bt Sweta Solanki & Ksenia Sidarova 4-6, 6-4, 7-5; Gayatri Krishnan & V. Poojashree bt Madanala Niroshita & Sushrutha Reddy 6-4, 6-4; G.K. Shweta & E. Ashmitha bt S. Janaki & Kelsey Sundaram 6-2, 7-6(6).

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