TENNIS
ITF women’s tournament
Second seed Vaidehi Chaudhari tamed a fighting Alexandra Iordache 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Joygaon Academy on Friday.
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On a gloomy morning, when heavy fog delayed the start by an hour, there was favourable flow for the Indian players as Sandeepti Singh Rao and Zeel Desai also made the semifinals.
Despite the fluctuating flow of the match, Vaidehi stayed gutsy and fought for every point, exasperating her firebrand opponent with a smart and sharp game, littering the court with fluent winners on both flanks.
Alexandra knew that it was a hard match as she had to negotiate 22 points on her serve in the first game, as Vaidehi converted the seventh breakpoint to make a statement. Thereafter, Vaidehi rarely let Alexandra get a grip on the contest, despite her admirable athleticism and strong strokes from every position.
It was all about converting the chances, and Vaidehi secured six of 15 breakpoints, while Alexandra managed to win three of 10 breakpoints.
The match looked to be coming back to life when Alexandra drew parity at 4-4 in the second set, but Vaidehi did not allow the Romanian to convert three game points in the tenth game and closed it out.
In the semifinals, Vaidehi will play Zeel Desai who was equally assertive in beating Fanny Ostlund of Sweden in straight sets. Zeel was in a spot of bother at 4-5 in the second set, but won the last three games in quick time, dropping only three points in all.
Sandeepti Singh Rao continued to assert her all-round game and an admirable composure to play every point with the merit it deserved, as she beat Shrivalli Bhamidipaty in straight sets.
Shrivalli had the big game, but did not have the urge to fight for every point. Thus, even when she led 4-0 in the second set, Shrivalli was unable to ride on it, and looked helplessly as Sandeepti turned the tide in her favour, to win the match 6-2, 7-6(4).
Sandeepti will challenge the champion of the last tournament, Tamara Curovic of Serbia who got past Humera Baharmus without much trouble.
RESULTS
Singles (quarterfinals): Sandeepti Singh Rao bt Shrivalli Bhamidipaty 6-2, 7-6(4); Tamara Curovic (Srb) bt Humera Baharmus 6-3, 6-4; Zeel Desai bt Fanny Ostlund (Swe) 6-2, 7-5; Vaidehi Chaudhari bt Alexandra Iordache (Rou) 6-3, 6-4.
Doubles (semifinals): Diana Marcinkevica (Lat) & Fanny Ostlund (Swe) bt Sai Samhitha & Soha Sadiq 6-3, 6-3; Vaidehi Chaudhari & Zeel Desai bt Sharmada Balu & Marie Mettraux (Sui) 6-4, 6-3.
– Kamesh Srinivasan
AITA Championship series juniors
Arnav Bishnoi and Vanya Arora won the boys and girls under-18 titles respectively in the AITA Championship series junior tennis tournament at the CLTA Complex on Friday.
Arnav beat Sumukh Marya and Vanya beat Reet Arora in straight sets in the finals..
Reet did well to beat top seed Jasmine Kaur for the under-14 title.
The results (finals):
Boys: Under-18: Arnav Bishnoi bt Sumukh Marya 6-3, 6-2.
Under-14: Gaurish Madaan bt Sangram Bhadury 7-5, 6-4.
Girls: Under-18: Vanya Arora bt Reet Arora 6-1, 6-3.
Under-14: Reet Arora bt Jasmine Kaur 6-0, 6-3.
– Kamesh Srinivasan
HOCKEY
Tennis
Sr National women’s hockey match
Madhya Pradesh blanked Telangana 36-0 in the league phase of the 13th Hockey India Senior national women’s hockey championship at the District Sports Authority Stadium here on Friday.
Priyanka Wankhede (8), Preeti Dubey (6), Shaheen Khan (5) and Aishwarya Chavan (5) were the main scorers for the winners.
In another match, Odisha also scored a convincing 13-0 win over Kerala with Anupa Barla (4) being the lead scorer.
The results:
Madhya Pradesh 36 (Diksha Tiwari, Nilanjali Rai, Karishma Devi 2, Preeti Dubey 6, Shaheen Khan 5, Upasana Singh, Aishwarya Chavan 5, Suman Devi Thoudam, Priyanka Wankhede 8, Manmeet Kaur 2, Yogita Bora 2, Anjali Gautam 2) bt Telangana 0.
Odisha 13 (Anupa Barla 4, Punam Barla 2, Namita Toppa 2, Janhabi Pradhan, Jiwan Kishori Toppo, Lilima Minz, Dipti Lakra, Asmita Barla) bt Kerala 0.
Himachal 10 (Kanshika Rai, Ritu 4, Tannu 4, Gurpreet Kaur) bt Gujarat 1 (Prachi Patel)
– V. V. SUBRAHMANYAM
Bopanna enters Rotterdam doubles semi
Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden outplayed the fourth seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara 6-2, 6-1 in the doubles quarterfinals of the $2,224,460 ATP tennis tournament in Rotterdam, Holland, on Friday.
In the semifinals, Bopanna and Ebden will play Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz of Germany.
The results
$2,224,460 ATP, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Doubles (quarterfinals): Rohan Bopanna & Matthew Ebden (Aus) bt Lloyd Glasspool (GBR) & Harri Heliovaara (Fin) 6-2, 6-1.
$60,000 ITF women, Altenkirchen, Germany
Doubles (quarterfinals): Jessy Rompies (Ina) & Prarthana Thombare bt Noma Noha Akugue & Ella Seidel (Ger) 6-3, 6-4.
$15,000 ITF men, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
Singles (quarterfinals): Simone Roncali (Ita) bt SD Prajwal Dev 6-1, 6-7(0), 6-3.
Doubles (semifinals): SD Prajwal Dev & Sai Karteek Reddy Ganta bt Gabriele Bosio & Filippo Speziali (Ita) 6-4, 7-6(5).
$15,000 ITF women, Ipoh, Malaysia
Doubles (semifinals): Yu-Yun Li (Tpe) & Anastasiya Poplavska (Ukr) bt Aoi Ito (Jpn) & Ashmitha Easwaramurthi 7-6(6), 7-5.
KAMESH SRINIVASAN