The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Sunitha Rao marches on; Sanaa Bhambri falls

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Sunitha Rao marches on; Sanaa Bhambri falls

Special Correspondent

GREATER NOIDA: Sunitha Rao continued to capture the attention as she quelled the challenge from Teodora Mircic of Serbia 6-2, 6-2 in the pre-quarterfinals of the ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Jaypee Greens Sports Complex here on Wednesday.

Handling a quality opponent ranked 282 and a tricky breeze across the court, the second-seeded Sunitha showed resolve and the remarkable ability to stay focused, irrespective of the quality of her game.

The World No. 175 did get broken while leading at 4-1 in both sets, but played smart to stay in control. What stood out was not only her ability to break back for 5-2 on both occasions but also the manner in which she was able to handle the seven breakpoints against her serve.

Sunitha conceded that she had started well but had tended to relax, especially in the second set. She said she felt happy with the way she stuck to the task despite not playing her best.

“I am happy with the way I competed. I didn’t get frustrated when I didn’t play good. That was the best part of the match today,” said Sunitha, who will take on the seventh-seeded Sandy Gumulya of Indonesia in the quarterfinals.

Fight on her hands

Though she has beaten the 245th ranked Gumulya once, Sunitha pointed out that she had lost to the Indonesian girl the last time they met — in the Fed Cup recently in Bangkok, and hinted that she was ready to fight it out.

Wild card Sanaa Bhambri, the only other Indian girl in the second round of singles, did have her chances against qualifier Vlada Ekshibarova of Uzbekistan but failed to drive home the advantage, as she lost her way, managing to win a mere three points in the next three games after having led 5-4 in the first set.

Though she fought hard with her limited arsenal, Bhambri could not sustain her challenge after getting broken in the fifth game of the second set following an early exchange of breaks.

The results: Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Montinee Tangphong (Tha) bt Nudnida Luangnam (Tha) 6-2, 6-2; Anastasija Sevastova (Lat) bt Lenka Tvaroskova (Svk) 6-4, 6-2; Aniko Kapros (Hun) bt Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) 7-5, 6-2; Vlada Ekshibarova (Uzb) bt Sanaa Bhambri 7-5, 6-4; Varatchaya Wongteanchai (Tha) w/o Naomi Cavaday (GBR); Margit Ruutel (Est) bt Ksenia Palkina (Kgz) 6-2, 6-3; Sandy Gumulya (Ina) bt Sheng-Nan Sun (Chn) 6-4, 6-2; Suitha Rao bt Teodora Mircic (Srb) 6-2, 6-2.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Yayuk Basuki & Romana Tedjakusuma (Ina) bt Sanaa Bhambri & Rushmi Chakravarthi 6-4, 6-2; Kelly Anderson & Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) bt Neha Uberoi (US) & Shikha Uberoi 6-2, 6-2; Teodora Mircic (Srb) & Lenka Tvaroskova (Svk) bt Ayaka Maekawa (Jpn) & Isha Lakhani 6-3, 6-1; Ksenia Palkina (Kgz) & Anastasia Poltoratskaya (Rus) bt Mihaela Buzarnescu (Rou) & Carmel Klaschka (Ger) 1-6, 6-3, 10-7.

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