Fourteen-year-old Mihika Yadav stunned third seed Plobrung Plipuech 7-5, 6-0 in the girls’ singles pre-quarterfinals of the ITF Asian Junior tennis championships at the DLTA Complex on Wednesday. Mihika’s victory was made all the more impressive by the fact that she won 13 of the last 14 games.
A disastrous start saw the Indian lose the first four games but it was her more experienced opponent who wilted afterwards. Plobrung faced a break point in every game and only once could she save it.
Mihika faces an unseeded player in the quarterfinals, Simran Kaur Sethi. Simran overcame the loss of seven consecutive games from 5-3 in the first set to defeat wildcard Devanshi Bhimjiyani 5-7, 6-4, 6-0. Interestingly, the former won the last 10 games to seal victory.
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The Simran-Mihika encounter will be the only all-Indian last eight contest in the tournament. Second seed Pranjala Yadlapalli and fourth-ranked Ojasvinee Singh will meet Tamachan Momkoonthod (fifth) and Yukina Saigo (eighth), respectively.
Although Indian girls make up half of the quarterfinal line-up, only seventh seed Sumit Nagal will feature in the boys’ quarterfinals. The 16-year-old recorded a straight-set win over qualifier Siu Chuen Lam on Wednesday.
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Alex Solanki could have joined Nagal in the last eight but faded away after taking the first set 6-1 against second seed Ken Onishi. The Japanese player won the following sets 6-2, 6-3.
The results:
Pre-quarterfinals: Boys: Lee Duck Hee (KOR) bt Hei Yin Andrew Li (HKG) 7-6(7), 6-4; Sora Fukuda (JPN) bt Vorachon Rakpuangchon (THA) 5-7, 6-1, 6-3; Weiqiang Zheng (CHN) bt Isa Mammetgulyyev (TKM) 6-3, 6-1; Makoto Ochi (JPN) bt Hong Kit Jack Wong (HKG) 6-4, 6-2; Sumit Nagal bt Siu Chuen Lam (HKG) 6-3, 6-3; Yun Seong Chung (KOR) bt Sharmal Dissanayake (SRI) 7-6(4), 6-3; Teeradon Tortrakul (THA) bt Kennosuke Nouchi (JPN) 6-3, 1-6, 6-0; Ken Onishi (JPN) bt Alex Solanki 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Girls: Kamonwan Buayam (THA) bt Sanjana Sudhir 6-3, 6-1; Claire Yoonkee Choi Spackman (HKG) bt Bunyawi Thamchaiwat (THA) 6-2, 6-3; Ojasvinee Singh bt Rheeya Doshi (SIN) 6-3, 6-0; Yukina Saigo (JPN) bt Vasanti Shinde 7-5, 6-0; Simran Kaur Sethi bt Devanshi Bhimjiyani 5-7, 6-4, 6-0; Mihika Yadav bt Plobrung Plipuech (THA) 7-5, 6-0; Tamachan Momkoonthod (THA) bt N.G. Kwan Yau (HKG) 6-2, 6-4; Pranjala Yadlapalli bt Sneha Padamata 6-2, 6-3.
Doubles: Quarterfinals: Boys: Lee Duck Hee & Weiqiang Zheng (CHN) bt Aditya Gokhale & Vidit Vaghela 6-1, 6-2; Shoma Kato & Ken Onishi (JPN) bt Siu Chuen Lam & Hong Kit Jack Wong 3-6, 6-3, 10-5; Yun Seong Chung & Sumit Nagal bt Isa Mammetgulyyev & Yong Jie Isaac Ong (SIN) 6-3, 6-1; Sora Fukuda & Makoto Ochi bt S.D. Prajwal Dev & G. Venkata Paramatmuni 6-1, 6-0.
Girls: Kamonwan Buayam & Yijia Shao (CHN) bt Karman Kaur Thandi & Mihika Yadav 7-6(5), 6-3; Tamachan Momkoonthod & Plobrung Plipuech bt Jennifer Luikham & Nidhi Surapaneni 6-3, 6-3; Vasanti Shinde & Dhruthi Venugopal bt Snehal Mane & Nandini Sharma 6-3, 6-3; Pranjala Yadlapalli & Ojasvinee Singh bt Devanshi Bhimjiyani & Zeel Desai 6-4, 6-1.