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Scheepers too good for Isha Lakhani

Special Correspondent

GREATER NOIDA: The fourth-seeded Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa defeated wild card Isha Lakhani 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Jaypee Greens Sports Complex here on Monday.

On a warm and windy day, it was tough for Isha to tackle her 181st ranked opponent, but she tried gamely. On a slow surface which called for considerable athleticism, the left-handed Isha shone in patches as she lacked the consistency to capitalise on the numerous openings.

Overcoming the disappointment of a few bad calls against her early in the match, Isha looked to have settled into her groove when she took a 3-1 lead in the second set, breaking her opponent in the first game, but failed to win another game in the match.

Earlier, in the final qualifying round, Shikha Uberoi found it hard to match the prowess of Sheng-Nan Sun of China and managed to eke out three games in all. The other two Indians in the final qualifying round, Geeta Manohar and Sonal Phadke also failed to win more than four games each in their matches.

In the doubles, Sanaa Bhambri and Rushmi Chakravarthi got past Nicola Mooney of Britain and Sonal Phadke. The Uberoi sisters, Shikha and Neha, also sailed into the quarterfinals.

The biggest upset was, of course, provided by the 37-year-old Yayuk Basuki and Romana Tedjakusuma who beat the champions of last week, Chun-Mei Ji and Sheng-Nan Sun of China in the super tie-break.

The results: Singles (first round): Lenka Tvaroskova (Svk) bt Yi-Jing Zhao (Chn) 6-4, 6-1; Anastasija Sevastova (Lat) bt Magda Mihalache (Rou) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5; Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) bt Isha Lakhani 6-3 6-3; Teodora Mircic (Srb) bt Wan-Ting Liu (Chn) 6-1, 6-1.

Qualifying (third and final round): Nudnida Luangnam (Tha) bt Chun-Mei Ji (Chn) 2-6, 7-5, 6-4; Aniko Kapros (Hun) bt Romana Tedjakusuma (Ina) 2-6, 6-2, 6-0; Varatchaya Wongteanchai (Tha) bt Geeta Manohar 6-3, 6-1; Lisa Sabino (Ita) bt Sonal Phadke 6-1, 6-3; Sheng-Nan Sun (Chn) bt Shikha Uberoi 6-2, 6-1; Kristina Antoniychuk (Ukr) bt Jin-Hee Kim (Kor) 6-0, 6-4; Vlada Ekshibarova (Uzb) bt Suchanan Viratprasert (Tha) 6-2, 6-2; Montinee Tangphong (Tha) bt Pemra Ozgen (Tur) 7-6(2), 6-7(4), 7-5.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Yayuk Basuki & Romana Tedjakusuma (Ina) bt Chun-Mei Ji & Sheng-Nan Sun (Chn) 1-6, 6-2, 10-6; Sanaa Bhambri & Rushmi Chakravarthi bt Nicola Mooney (GBR) & Sonal Phadke 6-2, 6-1; Neha Uberoi (US) & Shikha Uberoi bt Wan-Ting Liu & Yi-Jing Zhao (Chn) 6-2, 3-6, 10-4; Teodora Mircic (Srb) & Lenka Tvaroskova (Svk) bt Ji-Young Kim & So-Jung Kim (Kor) 7-5, 6-3; Mihaela Buzarnescu (Ru) & Carmen Klaschka (Ger) bt Montinee Tangphong & Varatchaya Wongteanchai (Tha) 6-4, 2-6, 10-8; Ksenia Palkina (Kgz) & Anastasia Poltoratskaya (Rus) bt Veronika Chvojkova & Andrea Hlavackova (Cze) 6-3, 2-6, 10-8.

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