Prarthana Thombare defeated Sai Samhitha 6-3, 7-6(3) in the second and final qualifying round of the Bhavna Swarup memorial $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Services Club grass courts here on Tuesday.
After three days had been washed out, it was a relief for the organisers to get the tournament off the blocks, albeit with the qualifying event.
Play abandoned
Sowjanya Bavisetti was on par with the seventh-seeded Napatsakorn Sankaew of Thailand after two sets, when play was abandoned in the evening in another final round qualifying encounter. Two other final qualifying round matches had also not been completed.
Despite the first round matches of the main draw having been delayed by two days, referee Puneet Gupta said that he would try to finish the tournament by Sunday, if good weather prevailed over the next few days.
The results: Qualifying (second and final round): Prerna Bhambri bt Nehel Sahni 6-4, 6-1; Prarthana Thombare bt Sai Samhitha 6-3, 7-6(3); Shweta Rana bt Victoria Chahal 6-1, 6-1; Nidhi Chilumula bt Likitha Shetty 6-3, 7-5; Eetee Maheta bt Adnya Naik 6-2, 6-1.
First round: Nehel Sahni bt Deepshikha Gupta 6-0, 6-1; Sai Samhitha bt Vaniya Dangwal 7-5, 6-4; Victoria Chahal bt Manya Nagpal 2-6, 6-2, 10-5; Varunya Wongteanchai bt Anandita Gupta 6-0, 6-0; Smriti Joon bt Sumeera Kamil 6-2, 7-6(1); Eetee Maheta bt Bhuvana Kalva 7-6(3), 7-5; Adnya Naik bt Zainab Ali Sajjad 7-5, 6-3; Napatsakorn Sankaew (Tha) bt Sneha Padamata 6-0, 6-1; Sowjanya Bavisetti bt Shreya Swarup 6-0, 6-0; Anushka Bhargava bt Priyanka Rawat 6-0, 6-3; Sharon Sanchana Paul bt Amrita Mukherjee 6-4, 6-3.
