Top seed Delhi was knocked out in the quarterfinals of team competition in women’s tennis in the National Games in Kumarapuram here on Sunday.
The young Mihika Yadav, the fourth best player in the Maharashtra team, and without a national rank in the women’s section, beat the national championship runner-up and national junior champion Karman Kaur Thandi 6-4, 6-4 in the first singles to set the pace for her team.
With the country’s No.1 Ankita Raina playing for Gujarat even though she stays and trains in Pune, Maharashtra had the No.2, Prarthana Thombare, taking the team to a comfortable victory, with a 6-1, 6-3 win over the national champion of the last three years, Prerna Bhambri.
It will be interesting when Maharashtra meets Gujarat in the semifinals on the morrow. The other semifinal will feature, second seed Telangana against fourth seed Tamil Nadu. Telengana had it tough as Sowjanya Bavisetti was stretched to three sets by Jennifer Luikham of Haryana.
The results:
Women (quarterfinals): Maharashtra bt Delhi 2-0 (Mihika Yadav bt Karman Kaur Thandi 6-4, 6-4; Prarthana Thombare bt Prerna Bhambri 6-1, 6-3).
Gujarat bt Kerala 2-0 (Eetee Maheta bt Rhea Rosa 6-1, 6-1; Ankita Raina bt Sanjana Sudhir 6-1, 6-2).
Tamil Nadu bt Karnataka 2-0 (Sharon Paul bt Sahan Shetty 6-1, 6-0; Snehadevi Reddy bt Preethi Ujjini 6-0, 6-2).
Telangana bt Haryana 2-0 (Sowjanya Bavisetti bt Jennifer Luikham 0-6, 6-2, 6-3; Nidhi Chilumula bt Himani Mor 6-4, 6-0).
