Karman Kaur Thandi and Y. Pranjala combined smartly to get the first win for India, in the L&T $125,000 WTA Mumbai Open at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) here on Tuesday.
In a dramatic thriller, featuring all young players, aged 19 or less, Karman and Pranjala converted their 10th matchpoint for a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Naiktha Bains of Australia and Fanny Stollar of Hungary in the doubles pre-quarterfinals. Karman was strong from the back court and Pranjala was rock solid at the net, in scripting a memorable victory.
There was a good possibility of a singles win as well this day, but Rutuja Bhosale failed to capitalise on a fine chance and bowed out to qualifier Deniz Khazaniuk of Israel in the first round.
Rutuja was perhaps in great hurry and her injudicious approach cost her the match. A few loose points and anxious swings saw Rutuja trying to catch up all the time, right from the start, even though she broke her opponent three times in the match.
There was some excitement, as Rutuja fought back from 1-5 in the second set, but it was too little too late in the match. Khazaniuk had trouble with the chair umpire and referee, as she sought on-court coaching but had not followed the procedure of signing a specific form. She was annoyed but channelised her anger to play a better quality game.
Earlier, in a lively opening match of the day, Amandine Hesse of France, bounced back from a sedate start when she trailed 3-5, to outwit fourth seed Arina Rodionova of Australia in two intense sets.
Qualifier and second seed, Ana Bogdan of Romania looked increasingly venomous in outplaying Victoria Rodriguez of Mexico for the loss of two games. Ana has dropped a mere three games in all so far in winning three matches.
The results: Singles (first round): Lu Jia-Jing (Chn) bt Dalma Galfi (Hun) 6-2, 6-2; Amandine Hesse (Fra) bt Arina Rodionova (Aus) 7-6(2), 6-3; Deniz Khazaniuk (Isr) bt Rutuja Bhosale 6-4, 6-3; Ana Bogdan (Rou) bt Victoria Rodriguez (Mex) 6-1, 6-1.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Oksana Kalashnikova (Geo) & Veronika Kudermetova (Rus) bt Riya Bhatia & Natasha Palha 6-1, 6-2; Junri Namigata (Jpn) & Peangtarn Plipuech (Tha) bt Valentyna Ivakhnenko (Rus) & Sabina Sharipova (Uzb) 6-1, 6-4; Julia Glushko (Isr) & Priscilla Hon (Aus) bt Hiroko Kuwata (Jpn) & Prarthana Thombare 6-2, 6-3; Karman Kaur Thandi & Y. Pranjala bt Naiktha Bains (Aus) & Fanyi Stollar (Hun) 6-3, 7-5; Dalila Jakupovic (Slo) & Irina Khromacheva (Rus) bt Ksenia Palkina (Kgz) & Zhang Ling (Hkg) 6-2, 6-0.
