Date:15/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/15/stories/2006051507631700.htm

Sport - Tennis

Indians hope to do better

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The entry of the junior Fed Cup team members, National junior champion Poojashree Venkatesh, Prerna Mythri and Sweta Solanki should add substance to the Indian challenge in the $10,000 ITF women's tennis tournament to be played at the DLTA Complex here from Monday.

Sandhya Nagaraj may have squandered a golden opportunity to win a title in the tournament last week, but the Indian girls are likely to stop the Chinese this time as they have warmed up for the challenge in a better way.

If she plays to potential, the talented Prerna Mythri could provide the answer to the Chinese spearheaded by the fourth-seeded Zhao Yi-Jing, who won the title despite aggravating a knee injury on Saturday.

Prerna starts against the gutsy strokeplayer Karishma Patel.

Rushmi Chakravarthi, troubled by a string of injuries this season, will be keen to set the record right and emphasise her supremacy. She starts against Madura Ranganathan and may meet Asha or Sandhya in the quarterfinals.

The seedings (Indian unless specified): 1. Rushmi Chakravarthi, 2. Song Shan-Shan (Chn), 3. Paarul Goswami, 4. Zhao Yi-Jing (Chn), 5. Sandhya Nagaraj, 6. Sonal Phadke, 7. Archana Venkataraman and 8. Geeta Manohar.

Wild cards: Poojashree Venkatesh, Sweta Solanki, Shilpi Jaiswal and Sandri Gangothri.

The results (second and final qualifying round): Asha Nandakumar bt Sanjana Kapur 7-5, 7-5; Harsimran Kaur bt Chirashanthi Rajur 6-4, 7-6 (2); Vishakha Sheoran bt Ruchita Shetty 6-0, 6-2; Akshitha Basavaraju bt Esha Sanghvi 6-1, 6-2; Varsha Shivshankar bt Renuka Keshwani 6-4, 7-6 (3); Shivika Burman bt Priyanka Tohan 6-0, 6-1; Ashmitha Easwaramurthi bt Vishika Chhetri 6-4, 3-6, 6-4; Janaki Gunuganti bt Shalini Sahoo 6-4, 7-5.