The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Rushmi shown the door

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 29, 2006

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Rushmi shown the door

Nandakumar Marar

MUMBAI: Qualifier Geeta Manohar capitalised on Rushmi Chakravarthi's wrist injury to outplay the second seed 6-1, 6-1 and advanced into the second round of the SPG-ITF $10,000 women's tennis tournament at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana courts here on Tuesday.

Fifth seed Tomoyo Takagishi from Japan was the other big name to fall on a day of upsets. Thailand's Thassha Vitayaviroj — unseeded in this event though familiar with Indian conditions — bounced back from a first set loss to oust Takagishi 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-1.

The Japanese easily won the tie-breaker but was error-prone in the second. Thassha seized the opportunity and played smartly to wrap up the match.

Thassha's compatriot Pichittra Thongdach had an easier path into the second round after Indian rival Krushmi Chheda retired hurt after she was trailing 1-4 down in the second set.

Partnering Isha Lakhani, Rushmi however remained in the doubles fray by defeating the Filipino-Indian pair of Czarina-Mae Arevalo and Madhura Ranganathan.

The results:

Singles: (first round): Ling Zhang (HK) bt Ji-Young Kim (Kor) 6-0, 6-2; Thassha Vitayaviroj (Tha) bt Tomoyo Takagishi (Jpn) 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-1; Lavinia Tananta (Ina) bt Parul Goswami 6-2, 6-1; Geeta Manohar bt Rushmi Chakravarthi 6-1, 6-1; Pichittra Thongdach (Tha) bt Krushmi Chheda 6-2, 4-1 (retd); Punam Reddy bt Archana Venkataraman 6-7(5), 7-6(2), 6-1; Sanaa Bhambri bt Kao Shao-Yuan (Tpe) 6-4, 6-1; Ito Kazusa (Jpn) bt Megha Vakharia 6-3, 6-2.

Doubles (first round): Ito Kazusa (Jpn)/Moe Kawatoko (Jpn) bt Ankita/Sanaa Bhambri 6-4, 7-6(8), 6-3; Isha Lakhani/Rushmi Chakravarthi bt Czarina-Mae Arevalo (Phi)/Madhura Ranganathan 6-0, 6-3; Natasha Khan/Claire Peterzan (UK) bt Sonal/Sagarika Phadke 4-6, 7-6(3).

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