The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Ankita, Tara in last four

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Friday, Aug 24, 2007
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Sport - Tennis

Ankita, Tara in last four

Special Correspondent

NOIDA: Ankita Bhambri sustained her good work to get past Varanya Vijuksanaboon of Thailand 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Unitech $10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Noida Sports Stadium, here, on Thursday.

On a day when the Indian girls proved timid against their foreign opponents, and put up a below par fare, the 20-year-old Ankita played well to keep the Indian hopes alive.

Of course, the third-seeded Tara Iyer also made the semifinals, but she did so at the expense of compatriot Janaki Gunuganti.

Recovery

The fourth-seeded Ankita recovered from a slump at the start that saw her trail 1-3. There was a bit of an anxious phase in the second set for the Indian supporters, when Ankita failed to drive home the advantage after going up a break, and got broken in the fifth game.

However, there was no need to press the panic button.

Ankita played a more forceful game to exasperate her Thai opponent who had a teasing game that saw the Indian girl run from side to side.

Ankita’s defence also stood the scrutiny.

Ankita saved three breakpoints and converted her third match point in a long drawn ninth game.

To meet Vasylyeva

In the semifinals, Ankita will face the 15-year-old qualifier Anastasiya Vasylyeva.

The Ukrainian left-hander’s angular strokes proved too much for Sandhya Nagaraj.

Tara, who outwitted Janaki, will face another qualifier, Kyung-Yee Chae.

The Korean won the first 10 games against Sanaa Bhambri in the quarterfinals. She had proved too good for the top-seeded Rushmi Chakravarthi in the second round after having blanked Archana Venkataraman in the first.

The results: Singles (quarterfinals): Kyung-Yee Chae (Kor) bt Sanaa Bhambri 6-0, 6-1; Tara Iyer bt Janaki Gunuganti 6-3, 6-1; Ankita Bhambri bt Varanya Vijuksanaboon (Tha) 6-4, 6-3; Anastasiya Vasylyeva (Ukr) bt Sandhya Nagaraj 6-2, 6- 2.

Doubles (semifinals): Sophia Mulsap and Varatchaya Wongteanchai (Tha) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi and Montinee Tangphong (Tha) 6-2, 4-6, 6-0; Ankita Bhambri and Sanaa Bhambri bt G.K. Shweta and Asha Nandakumar 6-0, 6-1.