NEW DELHI: Natasha Khan played a refreshingly superb game in knocking out the top-seed Ankita Bhambri 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $10,000 ITF women's tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Wednesday.

In doing so, the Britisher unwittingly wiped out the Indian hopes, as the other three Indian players, the fourth-seeded Sanaa Bhambri, Sonal Phadke and Geeta Manohar were unable to win a set between them.

Never in recent memory has the Indian women's tennis been this bad as to be unable to make the quarterfinals at the lowest level of the professional circuit. To add insult to injury, the Indian doubles challenge also ended in the quarterfinals itself.

Those who find Sania Mirza's defeat to a top-10 player like Elena Dementieva in three tough sets unpalatable, would do well to take a reality check on Indian women's tennis.

Ankita did try to make a fight of it in the end but she was not in her best form. She started on an alarming note with three doublefaults in her first game and ended up with 17 doublefaults in all. Moreover, the 19-year-old Delhi girl, aspiring to retain her place in the Indian Fed Cup team, was not that quick on her feet or sharp with her strokes.

Sharp contrast

In contrast, the 18-year-old Natasha, a tall and well-built girl, served 10 aces and hit her forehand with panache. She did struggle to time her backhand initially, but was comfortable with her overall game.

A bout of nerves saw Natasha drop a game when serving for the match in the ninth game of the decider, but Ankita lost the next game from 30-15 and with it the match.

``She was zoning today. I felt pain in my shoulder. I don't serve this many doublefaults in four tournaments put together. I hope to do well in the next two weeks in Mumbai and Chennai'', said Ankita.

Ankita's younger sister Sanaa found qualifier Sandy Gumulya of Indonesia too hot to handle as the latter served spot-on and stroked well.

Geeta Manohar fought hard against qualifier Ji-Young Kim of Korea and Sonal Phadke flattered to deceive after having broken back to be on par in the second set.

The results:

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Natasha Khan (GBR) bt Ankita Bhambri 6-2, 3-6, 6-4; Wing-Yau Chan (Hkg) bt Nungnadda Wannasuk (Tha) 6-1, 7-5; Sandy Gumulya (Ina) bt Sanaa Bhambri 6-2, 6-2; Thassha Vitayaviroj (Tha) bt Shao-Yuan Kao (Tpe) 6-2, 6-2; Ji-Young Kim (Kor) bt Geeta Manohar 6-4, 7-6(8); Czarina Mae Arevalo (Phi) bt Tomoyo Takagishi (Jpn) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1; Nudnida Luangnam (Tha) bt Sonal Phadke 6-1, 6-4; Ling Zhang (Hkg) bt Kazusa Ito (Jpn) 5-7, 6-1, 6-3.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Sandy Gumulya (Ina)/Pichittra Thongdach (Tha) bt Ankita Bhambri/ Sanaa Bhambri 5-7, 7-6 (7), 6-3; Natasha Khan/Claire Peterzan (GBR) bt Sai Jayalakshmy/Geeta Manohar 6-3, 1-6, 6-4; Jeong-A Cho/Ji-Young Kim (Kor) bt Kavitha Krishnamurthy/Varanya Vijuksanaboon (Tha) 6-0, 6-4; Tomoyo Takagishi (Jpn)/Thassha Vitayaviroj (Tha) bt Wing-Yau Chan/Ling Zhang (Hkg) 6-3, 6-3.

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