In a long drawn battled between two unseeded Indian players, Swetha Rana prevailed over Amrita Mukherjee 6-0, 5-7, 7-6 (4) in the first round of the RGUHS ITF Kalaburagi Open here at the Chandrashekar Patil stadium on Tuesday.
The two players slugged it on court for 2 hours and 41 minutes before Rana managed to edge into the second round of the $10,000 tournament.
There was not much difference between the players who traded serves other than in the first set when Rana looked like she would breeze through with ease when she wrapped up the first set 6-0 her Bengali opponent in the 1, 3 and 5th games.
The second set saw players breaking serves and restoring parity at 5-all before Mukherjee held to go up 6-5 and then broke Rana in the 12th game to clinch the set.
The decider went the way of the second set and the tie-breaker had to be enforced. Rana took a 5-2 lead before Mukherjee clinched two points. But Rana held on to her serves to win the tie-break 7-4.
Meanwhile seeded players advanced without too much of a fuss baring fifth seed Sharmadaa Baluu who pulled out with injury. Top seed Prerna Bhambri breezed past Xi-Yao Wang 6-1, 6-1, seventh seed Eetee Maheta sailed past qualifier Sindhu Janagam 6-3, 6-2 and third seed Druthi Tatachar bested Varunya Chandrashekar 6-2, 6-0.
Karnataka’s Sharmadaa Baluu retired from her match against Sneha Padmata after one game. The tournament fifth seed was suffering from an inflamed ankle injury and decided not to push the injury.
Results: (Prefix denotes seeding):
Singles 1st round: (All Indians unless mentioned): (Q) Sahan Shetty bt (Q) Bhargavi Nitin Mangudkar 6-0, 6-1; (7) Eetee Maheta bt (Q) Sindhu Janagam 6-3, 6-2; Sneha Padamata bt (5) Sharrmadaa Baluu (retired) 1-0; Shweta Rana bt Amrita Mukherjee 6-0, 5-7, 7-6 (4); Sai Samhitha Chamarthi bt Arthi Muniyan 6-1, 6-0; (1) Prerna Bhambri bt Xi-Yao Wang 6-1, 6-1; (3) Druthi Tatachar Venugopal bt Varunya Chandrashekar 6-2, 6-0.
Doubles: Round of 16: (2) Nidhi Chilumula / Eetee Maheta bt Sindhu Janagam / Amreen Naaz 6-0, 6-1; Riya Bhatia / Shweta Rana bt Sri Sai Shivani / Sahan Shetty 6-3, 6-0; Tamachan Momkoonthod (Tha) / Plobrung Plipuech (Tha) bt Amrita Mukhejee / Sansriti Ranjan 6-2, 6-1.
