PHOTO: SUSHANTA PATRONOBISH

ALL FOR A GOOD DRAW: Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine (right) and Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan drawing the lots for the main draw in the presence of Tournament Director Jaidip Mukerjea.

KOLKATA: The biggest Indian hope in the Sunfeast Open tennis, Sania Mirza, has been drawn in the same half as the World No. 9 and the top seed Martina Hingis. Mirza, who earned a fifth seeding for her 70th ranking in the WTA ladder, will meet Hingis in the semifinals if the seedings hold good.

The top half also has another Indian in 361-ranked Ankita Bhambri, who has received a wild card. She will be meeting the fourth-seeded Aravane Rezai of France in the first round. Sania has a comparatively easier first round draw having to meet a qualifier there.

On the other hand Hingis has drawn one of last year's quarterfinalists Melinda Czink of Hungary as her first-round opponent. Czink became famous in the last year's edition of the tournament after beating Sania Mirza in the pre-quarterfinals.

The main draw held here at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on Saturday, had the other two Indians — the wild cards Shikha Uberoi and the America-based Sunitha Rao — slotted in the bottom half. Rao, who is looking to gain the right to play for India, will be taking on seventh-seeded Nicole Pratt of Australia in the first round. Uberoi will be meeting Hana Sromova in her first match. Last year's runner-up, Karolina Sprem and Ukrainian Yuliana Fedak — as the second and third seeds — are the two other notable names in bottom half.

Biggest upset

Sanaa Bhambri effected the biggest upset of the day beating third-seeded Brenda Schultz-McCarthy of the Netherlands in a match stretched to the decider, in the first day of the qualifiers here. Bhambri thus brightened her qualification chances moving into the final round which will decide the four players who progress to the main draw.

Bhambri's achievement assumed a brighter tone as she beat a player who was once ranked within top-10 of the WTA rankings. But Schultz-McCarthy, who has to her credit the record of being the fastest server in the world, did not look that threatening as she made numerous errors against her opponent.

Bhambri was swept away 6-0 in the first set as Brenda Schultz-banged her power serves. The Indian clawed back from the second set, which she won 6-3 before taking the fight to the decider.

Battle of nerves

The final set turned out to be a battle of nerves and Bhambri, ranked almost 400 rungs lower, showed greater confidence to turn the battle in her favour. "I did not know anything about her (Schultz-McCarthy's) record as I was seeing her for the first time. I just focused on my game and tried to keep my return on court. My consistency finally paid off,'' said Bhambri.

In another notable match the highest-ranked Indian in the fray, Isha Lakhani, was sent packing by Tara Iyer. Joining Iyer and Bhambri in the final-round matches of the qualifier are two other Indians, Rushmi Chakravarthy and Sandhya Nagraj. The other four names are Chia-Jung Chuang (Chinese Taipei), Sabine Lisicki (Germany), Iroda Tulganova (Uzbekistan) and Sandy Gumulya (Indonesia).

The results:

Qualifying round (Indians unless stated otherwise): Tara Iyer bt Isha Lakhani 6-4, 6-2; Rushmi Chakravarthy bt Sonal Phadke 6-4, 6-4; Chia-jung Chuang (Tpe) bt Parul Goswami 6-2, 6-1; Sandhya Nagraj bt Archana Venkatraman 6-3, 6-2; Sana Bhambri bt Brenda Schultz-McCarthy (Ned) 0-6, 6-3, 7-6(7); Sabine Lisicki (Ger) bt Ragini Vimal 6-1, 6-0; Iroda Tulyaganova (Uzb) bt Megha Vakaria 6-1, 6-0; Sandy Gumulya (Ina) bt Jennifer Elie (U.S.) 7-5, 6-2.

The Main draw (prefix denotes seeding): 1-Martina Hingis (Sui) vs Melinda Czink (Hun); Tzipora Obziler (Isr) vs Yulia Beygelzimer (Ukr); Abigail Spears (U.S.) vs Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb); Tamairne Tanasugarn (Tha) vs 6-Kaya Kanepi (Est); 4-Aravane Rezai (Fra) vs Ankita Bhambri (WC, Ind); Tatiana Poutcheck (Blr) vs Anne Keothavong (GBR); Sandra Kloesel (Ger) vs Galina Voskoboeva (Rus); 5-Sania Mirza (Ind) vs Qualifier; 7-Nicole Pratt (Aus) vs Sunitha Rao (WC, U.S.); Arantxa Parra Santonja (Esp) vs Olga Poutchkova (Rus); Angelique Widjaja (Ina) vs Qualfier; 3-Yuliana Fedak (Ukr) vs Alberta Brianti (Ita); 8-Anatassia Rodionova (Rus) vs Alla Kudryavtseva (Rus); Hana Sromova (Cze) vs Shikha Uberoi (WC, Ind); Carolina Sprem (Cro) vs Casey Dellacqua (Aus).

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