The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Chhetri ousted

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Wednesday, May 16, 2007
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Sport - Tennis

Chhetri ousted

A. Vinod

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Top-seeded Agnes Szatmari (Romania) overcame a sluggish start before brushing aside the challenge of Vishika Chhetri (India) 6-3, 6-0 in a first round match of the Kerala Open international women's tennis tournament at the TTC courts here on Tuesday.

Romanian was broken thrice in the first set by her Indian rival. But Chhetri could not capitalise on this great opening as Szatmari sorted out her problems with the serve and went on to win the encounter in exactly 71 minutes.

Like Szatmari, the second-seeded Lauren Albanese (U.S.) too did seem to be pushed into a corner in the initial stages of her first round encounter against another Indian, Shweta Gadigeppa. But the favourite wriggled out of the tight situation as Shweta was inconsistent allowing her aggressive American rival to advance to the second round.

Among the four Indians who booked a safe passage into the pre-quarterfinals on Tuesday, the most notable winner was Isha Lakhani who put it across Martina Caciotti (Italy) with a finely crafted 6-3, 6-4 win. The Indian southpaw displayed tremendous firepower as she came up with a good all-round game against Caciotti who seemed to remain tentative all through, being unable to come to terms with the hot and humid conditions.

In the first set both players traded games in the second and fifth before Isha gained an upper hand with a break in the crucial eighth game.

In the second set, what helped the Indian wrap up the 68-minute encounter was the break of serve that she gained against Caciotti in the fifth game. Meghha Vakaria who downed Asha Nandakumar (6-4, 7-5), Madura Ranganathan who defeated Anupama Rajur (6-1, 6-4) and Tara Iyer who blitzed past Prerana Mythri-Appineni (6-1, 6-1) were the other three Indian players who moved up.

The results (first round):

Women's singles: Gorgia Mortello (Ita) bt Mariana Muci-Torres (Ven) 7-6(5), 6-0; Marinne Giraud (Mri) bt Geeta Manohar (Ind) 6-0, 6-2; Lauren Alabanese (U.S.) bt Shweta Gadigeppa (Ind) 6-3, 6-0; Suchanun Viratprasert (Tha) bt Archana Venkataraman (Ind) 6-3, 6-4; Isha Lakani (Ind) bt Martina Caciotti (Ita) 6-3, 6-4; Meghha Vakaria (Ind) bt Asha Nandakumar (Ind) 6-4, 7-5; Agnes Szatmaari (Rom) bt Vishika Chhetri (Ind) 6-3, 6-0; Nicole Clerico (Ita) bt Parul Goswami (Ind) 6-4, 6-2; Madura Ranganathan (Ind) bt Anupama Rajur (Ind) 6-1, 6-4; Tara Iyer (Ind) bt Prerana Mythri Appineni (Ind) 6-1, 6-1.

Women's doubles (first round): Lauren Albanese (U.S.)/ Yanina Wickmayer (Bel) bt Vishika Chhetri/ Poojashree Venkatesha (Ind) 6-0, 6-0; Sanaa Bhambri/ Rushmi Chakravarthi (Ind) bt Isha Lakani/ Asha Nandakumar (Ind) 6-3, 7-6(2); Giorgia Mortello/ Martina Caciotti (Ita) 6-2, 6-2; Nicole Clerico (Ita)/Agnes Szatmari (Rom) bt Rani Smita-Jain/Pallavi Sharma (Ind) 6-0, 6-1.

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