The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Rashmi upsets an error-prone Sweta

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Friday, Aug 25, 2006

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Sport - Tennis

Rashmi upsets an error-prone Sweta

Sports Reporter

CHENNAI: Rashmi Teltumbde, the petite girl from Maharashtra, caught everyone's attention with a 6-3, 6-1 win over the top-seeded Sweta Kumari Solanki of Delhi in the girls' under-18 quarterfinals of the MCC-adidas junior National tennis championships. Rashmi also entered the under-14 semifinals defeating the fancied Aishwarya Srivastav in straight sets at the Madras Cricket Club courts here on Thursday.

Rashmi, a qualifier in the under-18 category, played well within her limitations. Hitting the ball deep and using the wind conditions to disrupt the rhythm of the hard-hitting but erratic Sweta, Rashmi raced ahead to a 3-0 lead.

Mini scare

Up 4-2, Rashmi survived a mini scare when she was broken in the seventh game. The Mumbai girl, however, kept her focus eschewing wild shots. The unforced errors from the top seed continued unabated in the second set. Rashmi did what she knows best — getting the ball in with fine retrieving. Sweta lost the nerve to stage a fightback and promptly committed a double fault in the seventh game to give Rashmi a place in the semifinals.

Once Tariq Jacob (Tamil Nadu) conjured up a fine inside-out forehand winner to take the boys' under-18 quarterfinal match against the third seed Allan Gomes of Gujarat to the decider, it was anybody's match. The difference between the two equally aggressive players was the Chennai lad's consistent service. Tariq broke Gomes's serve in the third game of the third set to win 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Fighting win

In other quarterfinal matches, Md. Fariz trailed 0-4 and 5-6 in the first set before fighting his way back with a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory over Sushant Nambiar of Andhra Pradesh while Sudanwa Sitaram defeated Abhijit Tiwari of Chhattisgarh 6-4, 6-1.

The semifinal line-up: U-18: Boys: Tariq Jacob v M. Fariz; Akash Wagh v Sudanwa Sitaram.

Girls: Rashmi Teltumbde v Aishwarya Srivastav; Tara Iyer v Kelsey Sundaram.

The results (quarterfinals): Girls: U-18: Rashmi Teltumbde (Mah) bt Sweta Kumari Solanki (Del) 6-3, 6-1; Aishwarya Srivastav (Mah) bt Bhavani Thirumurthy (TN) 6-0, 6-1; Tara Iyer (Del) bt Unnati Purushotham (AP) 6-0, 6-3; Kelsey Sundaram (TN) bt Aarthi Doraisamy (TN) 6-4, 6-4.

U-14: V. Archana (AP) bt Rishika Sunkara (Del) 6-2, 6-1; Prerna Bhambri (Del) bt Divija Mandava (AP) 6-4, 7-5; Rashmi bt Aishwarya Srivastav -5, 6-1; Kyra Shroff (Kar) bt Aishwarya Agarwal (MP) 6-0, 6-0.

Boys: U-18: Md. Fariz (TN) bt Sushant Nambiar (AP) 7-6(4), 6-3; Sudanwa Sitaram (TN) bt Abhijit Tiwari (CG) 6-4, 6-1; Akash Wagh (Mah) bt Christopher Marquis (Mah) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1; Tariq Jacob (TN) bt Allan Gomes (Mah) 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.

U-14: Samip Mehta (Guj) bt Chetan Pandit (AP) 2-6, 6-0, 6-4; Vaidik Munshaw (Guj) bt Sumit Shinde (Mah) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1; N. Sai Karthik (AP) bt S.V. Abhishek (AP) 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-4; Mohit Mayur (TN) bt Irfan Hussain (TN) 3-6, 6-3, 6-0.

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