After the high of the first week, champion Kim Dabin of Korea and runner-up Katherine Ip of Hong Kong bit the dust early, even as the better-ranked Indian players asserted themselves in the first round of the second $10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Tuesday.
Aussie qualifier Abbie Myers beat Dabin 6-3, 6-4, while former Asian junior champion Rutuja Bhosale stopped Ip 6-2, 6-4. Nidhi Chilumula was in robust form as she handled Sharrmadaa Baluu’s erratic game with poise and confidence. She cruised home for the loss of just three games.
In another lively encounter, fifth-seeded Rishika Sunkara bounced back from 0-5 down in the second set, and saved five setpoints in all, spread over the sixth, ninth and 10th games, to beat the free-stroking Riya Bhatia 6-4, 7-6(5).
The results (first round): Nicha Lertpitaksinchai (Tha) bt Amrita Mukherjee 6-0, 6-4; Abbie Myers (Aus) bt Kim Dabin (Kor) 6-3, 6-4; Snehadevi Reddy bt Sai Samhitha 3-6, 6-3, 6-3; Nidhi Chilumula bt Sharrmadaa Baluu 6-2, 6-1; Natasha Palha bt Eetee Maheta 6-0, 6-7(4), 6-2; Ojasvinee Singh bt Rushmi Chakravarthi 3-1 (retd.); Rutuja Bhosale bt Katherine Ip (Hkg) 6-2, 6-4.
Wang Xi-Yao (Chn) bt Jelena Stojanovic (Aus) 6-1, 7-5; Rishika Sunkara bt Riya Bhatia 6-4, 7-6(5); Han Sung-Hee (Kor) bt Mahitha Dadi Reddy 6-1, 6-1; Peangtarn Plipuech (Tha) bt Damini Sharma 6-1, 6-1; Shweta Rana bt Vanshika Sawhney 6-1, 6-2; Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy bt Dhruthi Venugopal 3-6, 6-2, 6-3; Yukina Saigo (Jpn) bt He Chun-Yan (Chn) 6-1, 7-5.