Tournament third seed Snehadevi Reddy of India had to sweat it out extra time against qualifier Preethi Ujjini (Ind) before prevailing in straight sets 7-5, 6-1 to move into the second round of the KUDA Gulbarga ITF $10,000 women’s tennis tournament here on Monday.
The match lasted an hour and 54 minutes with Ujjini testing the third seed no end in the first set. Snehadevi was also guilty of serving too many double faults, at time when up 40-love and serving four double faults to hand the game to her opponent.
However, Snehadevi came into her own and Preethi who was aggressive all through seemed to be losing her focus and the third seed wrapped up the second set quickly.
In an upset, qualifier Soha Sadiq rallied from a set down to account for Akshara Iska claiming a spot in the second round with a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3 verdict.
The qualifier who trains at the Mahesh Bhupathi academy matched her rival for all she was worth on court. Losing the first set via the tie-breaker saw her become more determined as she swamped her opponent to claim the next two sets.
Soma next runs into third seed Snehadevi Reddy in the round of 16.
No 8 seed Eetee Maheta (Ind) breezed past country mate, wild card entrant Shivani Manjanna with an identical 6-1, 6-1.
I another first round encounter, world No 745 Riya Bhatia breezed past Wild card entrant Moulika Ram 6-4, 6-2.
In doubles competition, the fourth seeded Indian pair of Druthi Tatachar Venugopal and Kamran Kaur Thandi made short work of the Indo-Chinese pair of Varunya Chandrashekar and Chun-Yan He, winning 6-0, 6-3.
The Thai pair of Tamachan Momkoonthod and Plobrung Plippipuech eased past the Indian pair of Teertha Iska and Amrita Mukherjee 6-2, 6-1while in an all-India competition, Aastha Darugude and Vasavi Ganesan bested Sneha Padamata and Moulika Ram 6-3, 2-6, 10-8.
Results: (Prefix denotes seeding) :
Singles 1st round: (All Indians unless mentioned): Druthi Tatachar Venugopal bt Deekash Manju Prasad 6-3, 6-0; Dakshata Giirishkumar Prasad bt Teertha Iska 6-4, 6-1; (8) Eetee Maheta bt Shivani Manjanna 6-1, 6-1; (3) Snehadevi S Reddy bt Preethi Ujjini 7-5, 6-1; Riya Bhatia bt (WC) Moulika Ram 6-4, 6-2; (Q) Soha Sadiq bt Riya Bhatia 6-4, 6-2.
Doubles: (Round of 16): (4) Druthi Tatachar Venugopal / Kamran Kaur Thandi (Ind) bt Varunya Chandrashekar (Ind) Chun-Yan He (Chn) 6-0, 6-3; Tamachan Momkoonthod / Plobrung Plippipuech (Tha) bt Teertha Iska / Amrita Mukhereee 6-2, 6-1; Aastha Darugude / Vasavi Ganesan (Ind) bt Sneha Padamata / Moulika Ram 6-3, 2-6, 10-8; Soha Sadiq / Sahan Shetty (Ind) bt Dakashata Girishkumar Patel / Niditra Rajmohan 3-6, 7-5, 10-8.
