Rutuja Bhosale kept the fragile Indian hopes alive as she beat qualifier Ekaterina Klyueva of Kazakhstan 6-1, 6-3 in the girls’ first round of the Asian junior tennis championship at the DLTA Complex here on Tuesday.
A champion in the event two years ago who went on to capture everyone’s imagination by crowning herself as the national women’s champion, the wiry Rutuja faced little challenge from the erratic Kazakh girl.
A trainee of coach Sandeep Kirtane, the 151st ranked Rutuja may have a more serious test in the pre-quarterfinals when she takes on the third-seeded Kamonwan Buayam of Thailand.
There was some hint of the tougher challenges ahead, as the third-seeded Rutuja and Simran Kaur Sethi lost in the super tie-break to Asiya Dair of Kazakhstan and Miki Kobayashi of Japan in the doubles first round.
The other big hope among Indian girls, the eighth-seeded Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy, retired in the third game against Kazakh left-hander Yekaterina Gubanova owing to a shoulder injury.
That meant only Snehadevi Reddy followed Rutuja into the pre-quarterfinals among the Indian girls, and she will face the fourth-seeded Mami Adachi of Japan.
In the boys’ section, wild card Alex Solanki who had helped the Indian under-14 team qualify for the World Group competition, capitalised on his chance in beating Sagadat Ayap of Kazakhstan, and set up a clash against the fourth-seeded Kang Ku Keon of Korea.
The results: Boys (first round): Zhe Zhou (Chn) bt Aayush Mintri 6-0, 6-2; Kang Ku Keon (Kor) bt Sachin Kumar 6-4, 6-3; Alex Solanki bt Sagadat Ayap (Kaz) 7-6(5), 6-4; Takashi Saito (Jpn) bt Anvit Bendre 6-2, 6-2.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Hong Seong Chan and Kang Ku Keon bt Sharmal Dissanayake (Sri) and Zhe Zhou 4-6, 6-1, 10-4; Runhao Hua (Chn) and Rishab Agarwal bt Karan Salwan and Sahikh Abdullah 7-5, 5-7, 10-6; Ken Onishi and Takashi Saito (Jpn) bt Armando Soemarno (Ina) and Anvit Bendre 6-4, 6-2; Shashank Nautiyal and Jajbir Saran bt Kuatbek Abiyev (Kaz) and Ishaan Saigal 6-4, 7-6(3); Teeradon Tortrakul (Tha) and Aman Agarwal bt Garvit Batra and Aayush Mintri 6-3, 6-2; Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (Tha) and Sumit Nagal bt Sagadat Ayap (Kaz) and Sahil Deshmukh 7-5, 5-7, 10-4; Alberto Lim and Jurence Zosimo Mendoza (Phi) bt Aditya Deswal and Sachin Kumar 6-4, 6-3; Congsup Congcar (Tha) and Lee Duck Hee (Kor) bt Kim Dukyoung and Kim Young seok (Kor) 7-6(6), 4-6, 10-8.
Girls (first round): Rutuja Bhosale bt Ekaterina Klyueva (Kaz) 6-1, 6-3; Hikari Yamamoto (Jpn) bt Dhruthi Venugopal 6-1, 6-0; Yekaterina Gubanova (Kaz) bt Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy 2-0 (retired); Snehadevi Reddy bt Ria Vaidya (Sin) 6-1, 6-2.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Mami Adachi and Hikari Yamamoto (Jpn) bt Tamachan Momkoonthod and Chanikarn Silakul (Tha) 6-2, 6-3; Snehadevi Reddy and Dhruthi Venugopal bt Tami Grende (Ina) and Ria Vaidya 6-3, 6-1; Eudice Chong and Katherine Ip (Hkg) bt Alexandra Grinchishina and Ekaterina Klyueva (Kaz) 6-2, 6-0; Rheeya Doshi (Sin) and Kyoka Okamura (Jpn) bt Nandini Sharma and Karman Kaur 7-6(4), 6-1; Kamonluk Kittitanom and Plobrung Plipuech (tha) bt Maik Jae Tanpoco (Phi) and Riya Bhatia 6-2, 6-4; Asiya Dair (Kaz) and Miki Kobayashi (Jpn) bt Rutuja Bhosale and Simran Kaur Sethi 5-7, 6-2, 10-6; Yuriko Miyazaki (Jpn) and Thanthita Suetrong (Tha) bt Yekaterina Gubanova and Anastasiya Yepisheva (Kaz) 5-7, 6-3, 10-8; Kamonwan Buayam (Tha) and Kim Dabin (Kor) bt Akshara Iska and Vanshika Sawhney 6-3, 6-1.
