The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Prerna Bhambri enters semifinals

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Prerna Bhambri enters semifinals

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Prerna Bhambri was too good for the fourth-seeded Ashvarya Shrivastava as she raced to a 6-2, 6-2 victory in the quarterfinals of the Airtel $10,000 ITF women's tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Thursday.

On a day when the second seeded Rushmi Chakravarthi and qualifier Rutuja Bhosale were swept away despite having chances to turn the tide in their favour, Prerna had it easy.

In making her second successive semifinals, the 18-year-old Prerna asserted her domination over Ashvarya, as it was her third victory over the current Fed Cup team member, in as many meetings in the ITF circuit.

While Prerna served and stroked with usual felicity, Ashvarya was hampered by a warning from the chair umpire for taking too long in bouncing the ball before every serve, and also a clutch of close calls that went against her.

The 19-year-old Ashvarya kept fighting but failed to convert any of the four breakpoints in a long sixth game in the second set that saw Prerna pull ahead decisively.

Prerna will have her first real test in the current tournament, in which she has dropped only seven games in three matches so far, when she faces China's Yang Zhaoxuan.

Rushmi exits

Rushmi was in good form and had a set point in the first set tie-break, but failed to grab it, as she went down 6-7(9), 5-7 in a battle of wits that lasted two hours and eight minutes, against Kim Hae Sung of Korea.

In both the sets, Rushmi was down 3-5 after exchange of breaks, and did well to extend her fight against the fleet-footed Korean.

The 15-year-old Rutuja was uncharacteristically subdued against the third-seeded Nadia Abdala of Mexico, and thus was unable to do justice to her potential.

A string of doublefaults ate away the confidence of the Indian girl, and a bad call when an ace was ruled as a fault in the ninth game broke her resistance.

Rutuja made a better fight of it in the second set, when she broke the towering Mexican in the fifth and ninth games, but did not have the conviction in her game to make a better fight of it. The young girl, in her first main draw at this level in only her third tournament, can only get better with the experience.

Her good work has already been noticed and the bespectacled Rutuja has been given a wild card for the main draw of the next event to be played at the same venue.

The results:

Singles (quarterfinals): Yang Zhaoxuan (Chn) bt Joanna Nalborska (Pol) 6-4, 6-4; Prerna Bhambri bt Ashvarya Shrivastava 6-2, 6-2; Nadia Abdala (Mex) bt Rutuja Bhosale 6-3, 6-4; Kim Hae Sung (Kor) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi 7-6(9), 7-5.

Doubles (semifinals): Keren Shlomo (Isr) and Rushmi Chakravarthi bt He Sirui and Yang Zhaoxuan (Chn) 6-3, 7-6(4); Kim Hae Sung and Kim Ju Eun (Kor) bt Aishwarya Agrawal and Ankita Raina 6-4, 4-6, 10-6 .

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