Andijan (Uzbekistan): Karman Kaur Thandi saved two match-points in recording a thrilling 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(2) victory over Melis Sezer of Turkey in the first round of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at Andijan, Uzbekistan, on Monday.
Karman battled for two hours and 48 minutes to assert her strong game, on her swift return to the professional circuit.
After losing the first set in which she trailed 2-5 at one stage, Karman failed to capitalise on two setpoints on her serve in the ninth game of the second set. She, however, eventually managed to break Sezer’s serve in the 12th game to force the third.
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In the decider, Karman was down 3-5 and faced two matchpoints on her serve in the ninth game but retained her composure. Karman broke Sezer when she was serving for the match in the 12th game to subsequently dominate the tie-break.
In contrast, qualifier Kyra Shroff was unable to capitalise on a good start and lost in three sets to eighth seed Kamila Kerimbayeva of Kazakhstan.
In doubles, Kyra and Dhruthi Venugopal gave the top seeds Nigina Abduraimova of Uzbekistan and Ksenia Lykina of Russia a run for their money before losing the match tie-break 10-8.
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The results (all first round):
$25,000 Futures, Andijan: Dzmitry Zhyrmont (Blr) bt Kaza Vinayak Sharma 6-2, 1-2 retd. Doubles: Sriram Balaji & Vishnu Vardhan bt Botir Sapaev & Pavel Tsoy (Uzb) 6-2, 6-2.
$25,000 ITF women, Andijan: Kamila Kerimbayeva (Kaz) bt Kyra Shroff 5-7, 6-3, 6-2; Karman Kaur Thandi bt Melis Sezer (Tur) 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(2). Doubles: Nigina Abduraimova & Ksenia Lykina (Uzb) bt Kyra & Dhruthi Venugopal 6-1, 6-7(8), [10-8]; Polina Merenkova & Komola Umarova (Uzb) bt Mariam Bolkvadze (Geo) & Karman Kaur Thandi 6-1, 6-4.