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Tuesday, Mar 11, 2008
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Indians start well in doubles

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Indian challenge got off to a good start, albeit only in doubles, in the $50,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Monday.

The Bhambri sisters, Ankita and Sanaa, the Uberoi siblings, Shikha and Neha, qualifier Rushmi Chakravarthi with her Chinese partner Yan-Chong Chen and the second-seeded Sunitha Rao and her French partner Aurelie Vedy made the quarterfinals to provide a healthy image of Indian women’s tennis. However, there was nothing much to cheer for the Indian camp in singles, not just because there was only Indian in action. Rushmi Chakravarthi, who has played only one competitive international match in the last three months (at Bangalore Open), did not have the match sharpness and it was no surprise that she could not win more than three games against the fifth-seeded Margit Ruutel of Estonia.

Failed efforts

Wild card Rushmi did stretch her 177th ranked opponent to eight deuces in the second game, when she failed to capitalise on four breakpoints, but could not translate her fighting qualities to winning a game till her rival had taken the first seven games.

There was a semblance of a contest when Rushmi broke Margit in the fourth game to eventually take a 3-2 lead but could not sustain her good work thereafter.

The results (Indians unless specified):

Singles: First round: Carmen Klaschka (Ger) bt Magda Mihalache (Rou) 6-3, 6-3; Margit Ruutel (Est) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi 6-0, 6-3; Aniko Kapros (Hun) bt Anastasija Sevastova (Lat) 7-6(5), 7-6(4); Ekaterina Dzehalevich (Blr) bt Corinna Dentoni (Ita) 6-4, 6-4.

Doubles: Pre-quarterfinals: Ankita & Sanaa Bhambri bt Sandy Gumulya (Ina) & Isha Lakhani 6-3, 7-5; Neha Uberoi (U.S.) & Shikha Uberoi bt Kelly Anderson & Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) 3-6, 6-3, 10-8; Yan-Chong Chen (Chn) & Rushmi Chakravarthi bt Debbrich Feys (Bel) & Pemra Ozgen (Tur) 6-3, 7-6(1); Veronika Chvojkova & Andrea Hlavackova (Cze) bt Nicola Mooney (GBR) & Parul Goswami 6-2, 6-2; Teodora Mircic (Srb) & Lenka Tvaroskova (Svk) bt Andreja Klepac (Slo) & Margit Ruutel (Est) 6-3, 1-0 (retd); Aurelie Vedy (Fra) & Sunitha Rao bt Liu Wan-Ting & Zhao Yi-Jing (Chn) 7-5, 6-4.

Qualifying event: Third and final round: Lisa Sabino (Ita) bt Nicole Riner (Sui) 6-3, 6-0; Kristina Antoniychuk (Ukr) bt Tamaryn Hendler (Bel) 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(5); Suchanan Viratprasert (Tha) bt Nudnida Luangnam (Tha) 6-4, 2-6, 6-0; Montinee Tangphong (Tha) bt Debbrich Feys (Bel) 6-3, 6-3.

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