Sport - Tennis

Isha stuns Thassha Vitayaviroj

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: Isha Lakhani is on the prowl. Recovering from injury and hungry for titles to make up for last season, the Mumbai girl is knocking down rivals crossing her path.

Thailand's Thassha Vitayaviroj, seeded number two, became the latest casualty at the hands of the fifth seeded

Indian in the MSLTA-ITF women's tennis singles quarterfinals, going down in straight sets at the Ranade Tennis Centre. Pichittra Thongdach, another Thailand player, stands in her way.

Isha's conquest, a 6-3, 6-2 win inside an hour of frenzied action at the Ranade Tennis Centre, marked a day of surprise verdicts as the singles semifinalists were spotted.

Top seed Rushmi Chakravarty, fourth seed Shruti Dhawan and seventh seed Nicole Clerico (Italy) were ousted .

The results: (Indians unless specified): Singles (quarterfinals): 6-Punam Reddy bt 1-Rushmi Chakravarthi 6-1, 1-6, 6-1; Czarina-Mae Arevalo (Philippines) bt 4-Shruti Dhawan 6-4, 6-4; Pichittra Thongdach (Thailand) bt 7-Nicole Clerico (Italy) 6-4, 6-1; 4-Isha Lakhani bt 2-Thassha Vitayaviroj (Thailand) 6-3, 6-2.

Doubles (2nd round): Nicole Clerico (Ita)/Ksenia Palkina bt Rushmi Chakravarty/Sai

Jayalakshmi-Jayaram 7-6 (5), 6-2; Shruti Dhawan/Rebecca Fong (Great Britain) bt Ksenia Gidorova (Russia)/Sandri Gangotri 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; Isha Lakhani/Geeta Manohar bt Liza Pereira/Sonal Phadke 6-3, 6-4; Wilawan Choptang/Thassha Vitayaviroj (Tha) bt Kanisha Mehta/Sagarika Phadke 6-2, 6-0.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu