Karman Kaur Thandi bounced back strong to beat second seed Ankita Raina 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) in the pre-quarterfinals of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Arera Club on Thursday.
It was a commendable performance by the 21-year-old Karman, ranked 611th in the world, as she was playing only her second tournament after missing nearly eight months of the season owing to a shoulder injury.
In a gripping contest that lasted three hours and 11 minutes, Karman had led 3-0 in the first two sets. In the decider, it was Ankita who led 3-0 before Karman went ahead 5-4. The 187th-ranked Ankita had to save four match points in the 12th to force the tie-break.
In the tie-break, it was 3-3 when Karman swept the last four points to set up a quarterfinal against qualifier Karin Kennel of Switzerland.
The results:
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Sarah-Rebecca Sekulic (Ger) bt Jia-Jing Lu (Chn) 6-4, 6-1; Mana Kawamura (Jpn) bt Eri Hozumi (Jpn) 6-3, 6-2; Chihiro Muramatsu (Jpn) bt Mihika Yadav 6-1, 6-0; Sowjanya Bavisetti bt Hiroko Kuwata (Jpn) 7-6(2), 6-3; Melanie Klaffner (Aut) bt Riya Bhatia 6-1, 3-0 retd.; Gergana Topalova (Bul) bt Diana Marcinkevica (Lat) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; Karin Kennel (Sui) bt Punnin Kovapitukted (Tha) 6-1, 6-3; Karman Kaur Thandi bt Ankita Raina 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3).
Doubles (semifinals): Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) & Rutuja Bhosale w.o. Karin Kennel (Sui) & Silvia Njiric (Cro).
Quarterfinals: Webley-Smith & Rutuja bt Jennifer Luikham & Mihika Yadav 6-3, 6-3; Karin Kennel & Silvia Njiric bt Melanie Klaffner (Aut) & Sarah-Rebecca Sekulic (Ger) 6-4, 6-2; Diana Marcinkevica (Lat) & Valeriya Strakhova (Ukr) bt Sarah Pang (Sgp) & Arthi Muniyan 6-1, 6-0; Punnin Kovapitukted (Tha) & Maria Timofeeva (Rus) bt Jacqueline Cabaj Awad (Swe) & Nudnida Luangnam (Tha) 6-1, 6-4.
