Date:06/09/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/09/06/stories/2006090608342000.htm

Sport - Tennis

Upset win for Shokeen

NEW DELHI: Vivek Shokeen upset eighth seed Mohammad Al Ghareeb of Kuwait 6-2, 6-4 in the first round of the $100,000 Asian tennis championship at Tashkent on Tuesday.

Qualifier Vishnu Vardhan was the other Indian winner as he beat George Kotlyarevsky of Kyrgyzstan 6-0, 6-4. Mustafa Ghouse lost to Sarvar Ikramov 4-6, 4-6, while Pathanjali Ravishankar lost 6-3, 6-1 to the third-seeded Alexey Kedriouk of Kazakhstan.

In the women's section, Ankita Bhambri beat Eleonora Sitjemileva of Uzbekistan 6-1, 6-1 to set up a second-round clash with second seed Chin-Wei Chan of Chinese Taipei. Rushmi Chakravarthi beat Nigora Sirojiddinova of Uzbekistan 6-2, 6-3 to set up a pre-quarterfinal with top seed Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei.

Isha Lakhani lost 4-6, 2-6 to Ye-Ra Lee of Korea.

Other results: Women's doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Yung-Jan Chan and Chia-Jung Chuang (Tpe) bt Ankita Bhambri and Sanaa Bhambri 6-2, 6-1; Ksenia Palkina (Kgz) and Isha Lakhani bt Mariya Tverdikova and Saria Khayrova (Uzb) 6-2, 6-1; Wan-Ting Liu and Shuai Zhang (Chn) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi and Sandhya Nagaraj 6-2, 6-3; Chin-Wei Chan (Tpe) and Shikha Uberoi bt Albina Khabibulina and Diana Narzykulova (Uzb) 6-2, 6-1.