Date:10/06/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/10/stories/2008061059791700.htm

Sport - Tennis

Madura upsets Wannasuk

Special Correspondent

GURGAON: Madura Ranganathan knocked out second seed Nungnadda Wannasuk of Thailand 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in the first round of the $10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the National Tennis Academy (NTA) Complex, on Monday.

It was a fighting display by the 19-year-old Madura, who is pursuing her education with the University of North Texas in the U.S., as she bounced back from being down 3-5 in the decider to script a memorable triumph.

Playing on a wild card as she had not competed in the professional circuit for more than a year, Madura broke the Thailand player at love in the ninth game when the latter was serving for the match. Thereafter, Madura maintained the tempo to reel off the games, eventually serving out the match without any fuss in an energy-sapping contest that spanned two hours and 53 minutes.

Psychological edge

Having beaten the Thai girl in their only previous meeting in a similar tournament in Pune two years ago, albeit on clay, Madura had the psychological edge and she executed her game with a touch of assurance in the end.

She will meet qualifier Chun-Yan He of China in the pre-quarterfinals.

Rushmi Chakravarthi, Prerana Mythri and Parul Goswami were the other Indians to move into the second round on the opening day.

The results: Singles: First round: Parul Goswami bt Dipti Srivastava 6-3, 6-4; Prerana Mythri bt Sagarika Phadke 6-2, 6-0; Mu-Ying Chen (Tpe) bt Shahin Ansari 6-1, 7-6(3); Sung-Hee Han (Kor) bt Renee Binnie (Aus) 6-0, 6-1; Rushmi Chakravarthi bt Garima Vatwani 6-2, 6-1; Chun-Yan He (Chn) bt Rie Imai (Jpn) 6-3, 6-4.

Madura Ranganathan bt Nungnadda Wannasuk (Tha) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

Doubles: Pre-quarterfinals: Ankita Bhambri & Sanaa Bhambri bt Sung-Hee Han (Kor) & Sweta Kumari Solanki 6-3, 6-1; Rushmi Chakravarthi & Geeta Manohar bt Harshini Reddy & Vishakha Sheoran 6-1, 6-2; Prerna Bhambri & Garima Vatwani bt Renee Binnie & Cassandra Chan (Aus) 3-6, 7-5, 11-9; Angelina Gabueva (Rus) & Julia Moriarty (Aus) bt Kesica Jayabalan & Anushri Thamanna 6-3, 6-3.

Elina Gasanova (Rus) & Isha Lakhani bt Nungnadda Wannasuk (Tha) & Parul Goswami 6-1, 7-6(1).