Manisha, Sania fall by the wayside
The Indian challenge in the $25,000 women's ITF tennis championship ended with the ouster of Manisha Malhotra and Sania Mirza in the singles pre-quarter-finals, in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Manisha lost to unseeded Suchanan Viratprasert of
Thailand 5-7, 2-6 in one hour and 32 minutes while Sania Mirza went
down fighting to fourth seed Dominika Luzarova of Czech Republic 6-7(7-9), 7-5, 5-7 after battling it out for a little less than three hours.
In other matches, giant-killer Andrea Van Den Hurk of the Netherlands, who had
accounted for countrywoman and seventh seed Jolanda Mens
yesterday in the first round, subdued Napaporn Tongsalee of
Thailand 6-2, 6-1 in one hour and five minutes while German
qualifier Varana Marie Beller sidelined Kyung Mi Chang of
Korea 6-2, 6-1.
Unseeded Scarlett Werner of Germany too had a good day
as she rallied magnificiently, after dropping the first set, to pip wild card Ivanna Israilova of Uzbekistan 2-6, 6-1, 7-5, while top seed Tzipi Obziler of Isreal needed just 55
miunutes to send her unseeded opponent Ipek Senoglu of Turkey
packing at 6-3, 6-1.
Third seed Adriana Barna of Germany too had an easy time,
drubbing unseeded Shelley Stephens of New Zealand 6-1, 6-2
while sixth seed Jin-Hee Kim sidelined unseeded Ekaterina Kozhokina of Russia 6-3, 7-6(8-6).
In the doubles quarter-finals Manisha Malhotra and Amanda
Hopmans of the Netherlands, the top seeds, gave a walk-over to
Shelley Stephens and Scarlett Werner as Hopmans took ill.
Earlier reports
Manisha Malhotra shocks Daskovic
Sania Mirza lone Indian to advance
