Tamil Nadu's Vedhalakshmi Devi pulled off her best performance yet win with a come-from-behind victory over former National champion and International Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) in a women's first-round match of the UTT-National ranking South Zone table tennis tournament held at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Tuesday.
Representing TNTTA, the 18-year-old from Chennai troubled Madhurika with her funny rubbers (soft pimples) on both flanks, winning in seven games, 9-11, 7-11, 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8.
Qualifier Vedhalakshmi reeled off the last three points in the seventh and deciding game with ease as Madhurika was unable to handle the backhand push of her opponent.
"I played my natural game and I found out that she was finding it difficult to take my backhand push/block and I capitalised on it," said Vedhalakshmi to The Hindu.
PSPB's Harmeet Desai, one of the contenders for the men's title, dispatched off Divyansh Srivastava of Uttar Pradesh 11-8, 11-9, 11-6, 11-7 in a second-round contest.
Important results (round of 64):
Men: Mandar Hardikar (Mah) bt Ali Mohammed (TS) 10-12, 11-6, 11-13, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-7; Sougata Sarkar (LIC) bt Soham Bhattacharya (Ker) 7-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-8, 4-11, 11-5; Jubin Kumar (PSPB) bt Pankaj Vishwakarma (RSPB) 11-9, 10-12, 4-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-4; Sushmit Sriram (TTTA) bt Arnab Chandra (Ben) 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 10-12, 12-10, 7-11, 12-10; Abhimanyu Mitra (IAID) bt Vidit Desai (Guj) 8-11, 11-6, 6-11, 4-11, 12-10, 11-3, 13-11; Sudhanshu Grover (Del) bt Shubham Ambre (Mah) 8-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5, 11-5; Kiranjoy Pushilal (RSPB) bt Sarthak Gandhi (Har) 8-11, 11-8, 10-12, 15-13, 6-11, 11-6, 11-3; Raj Mondal (RBI) bt Utkarsh Gupta (CRSB) 11-6, 11-13, 11-3, 8-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7.
Women: Shruthi Ramkumar (TTTA) bt Lakshita Narang (Del) 8-11, 11-4, 14-12, 10-12, 12-10, 11-5; Vidya Narasimhan (CRSB) bt Kaushani Nath (RSPB) 7-11, 5-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-9; Vedhalakshmi Devi (TNTTA) bt Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) 9-11, 7-11, 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8; Chipia Frenaz (Guj) bt Harshavardhini (RBI) 11-9, 5-11, 4-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-6; Radhapriya Goel (AAI) bt Seraha Jacob (Ker) 11-7, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8, 11-0.