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Ankita goes down fighting as Indian challenge ends in singles

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Ankita Bhambri stretched the eighth-seeded Yuliya Beygelzimer of Ukraine before going down 2-6, 6-4, 4-6 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $50,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Wednesday.

Ankita, struggling to find her rhythm, stormed back in the second set as she pressed hard after an early exchange of breaks. However, in the decider, Ankita was unable to serve as well as she could and was not able to capitalise on the breaks of serve early on in the third set.

Yuliya was able to hold serve after five successive breaks and that proved decisive.

With Shikha Uberoi and Poojashree Venkatesh losing in straight sets in the second round, the Indian challenge came to an end in singles.

However, there was some cheer for the Indian camp in doubles, as Ankita and Sanaa Bhambri made the semifinals in thrilling fashion with a 10-4 score in the super tie-break against Ukrainians Ganna Piven and Anastasiya Vasylyeva.

Thumping win

The Uberoi sisters, Shikha and Neha, thumped Shaozhuo Liu of China and Rushmi Chakravarthi for the loss of just three games.

The results: Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Masa Zec-Peskiric (Slo) bt Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3; Anastasiya Vasylyeva (Ukr) bt Montinee Tangphong (Tha) 6-2, 7-6(6); Chiaki Okadaue (Jpn) bt Anna Gerasimou (Gre) 7-6(3), 7-6(3); Bojana Jovanovski (Srb) bt Melanie Klaffner (Au) 6-2, 6-2; Zhang Ling (Hkg) bt Shikha Uberoi 6-4, 7-6(3); Sandra Zahlavova (Cze) b Poojashree Venkatesh 6-4, 6-1; Yuliya Beygelzimer (Ukr) b Ankita Bhambri 6-2, 4-6, 6-4; Megan Moulton-Levy (US) bt Romana abakova (Svk) 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-1.

Doubles (quarterfinals):

Neha Uberoi (US) & Shikha Uberoi bt Liu Shaozhuo (Chn) & Rushmi Chakravarthi 6-0, 6-3; Megan Moulton-Levy (US) & Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) bt Yuliya Beygelzimer (Ukr) & Florence Haring (Fra) 7-6(7), 6-1; Ankita Bhambri & Sanaa Bhambri bt Ganna Piven & Anastasiya Vasylyeva (Ukr) 1-6, 6-3, 10-4; I-Hsuan Hwang (Tpe) & Zhang Ling (Hkg) bt Anna Gerasimou (Gre) & Margit Ruutel (Est) 4-1, retd.

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