The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Sonal in pre-quarterfinals

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Wednesday, May 10, 2006

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Sport - Tennis

Sonal in pre-quarterfinals

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Sonal Phadke overcame the tough conditions and a fighting Madhura Ranganathan with grit and poise to record a 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-2 victory and moved into the pre-quarterfinals of the Oil India Limited $10,000 ITF women's tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Tuesday.

In an energy-sapping duel that spanned two hours and 40 minutes, both hit groundstrokes with punch and precision. What won the day for Sonal was her mobility and determination that was very much evident as she forced a tie-break after having been reduced to 2-5 in the second set.

After a 10-minute interval owing to the `heat' rule before the third set, it was Sonal who attacked with more vigour even as Madhura struggled to hold serve.

The hard-earned victory would possibly provide a smoother passage ahead for Sonal as she takes on her erstwhile doubles partner Karishma Patel in the second round. Karishma stroked with conviction and recovered from being 1-4 down in the decider to beat local girl Vishika Chhetri.

Vandana's nightmare

In another lively encounter, Vandana Murali squandered two set points and thus a golden chance to further test the second-seeded Song Shan-Shan of China who complained of an elbow pain on her non-playing hand midway through the second set.

In her defence, it may be argued that Vandana was at the receiving end of a couple of poor calls from the chair umpire, including one that saw her being broken in the ninth game of the second set.

Vishakha Sheoran had a morale-boosting victory over Tegan Edwards of South Africa and will lock horns with Paarul Goswami.

Meanwhile, Sandhya Nagaraj was in fluent form as she outplayed Krushmi Chheda and will take on Elizaaveta Zaytseva of Russia, who stopped a late surge by Shivika Burman.

The results:

Singles (first round): Zhao Yi-Jing (Chn) bt Janaki Gunuganti 6-0, 6-3; Sonal Phadke bt Madhura Ranganathan 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-2; Karishma Patel bt Vishika Chhetri 4-6, 6-1, 7-5; Vishakha Sheoran bt Tegan Edwards (RSA) 6-3, 6-2; Sandhya Nagaraj bt Krushmi Chheda 6-0, 6-1; Elizaaveta Zaytseva (Rus) bt Shivika Burman 6-3, 6-1; Oormila Ram bt Sagarika Phadke 6-4, 7-6(4); Song Shan-Shan (Chn) bt Vandana Murali 6-1, 7-6(0). Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Song Shan-Shan (Chn)/Zhao Yi-Jing (Chn) bt Vishika Chhetri/Vishakha Sheoran 6-0, 6-0; Ashmitha Easwaramurthi/Parija Maloo bt Akshitha Basavaraju/Sandri Gangothri 6-4, 6-3; Tegan Edwards (RSA)/Sonal Phadke bt Janaki Gunuganti/Sushrutha Reddy 6-1, 6-0; Vandana Murali/Madhura Ranganathan bt Krushmi Chheda/Karishma Patel 6-3, 6-3; Asha Andakumar/Varsha Shivshankar bt Jilke Nelord/Shalini Sahoo 6-4, 6-0; Paarul Goswami/Geeta Manohar bt Sanjan Kapur/Neha Rana 6-1, 6-1; Sagarika Phadke/Chirashanthi Rajur bt Renuka Keshwani/Priyanka Tohan 6-3, 6-0; Rushmi Chakravarthi/Archana Venkataraman bt Anupama Rajur/Oormila Ram 6-1, 6-1.

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