Anuchan fights off Shruti challenge to make semis

Indore, Oct 29: Third seed Montika Anuchan of Thailand showed what patience and a positive frame of mind could do when she overcame a determined Shruti Dhawan of India in a three-set quarter-final in the Bridgestone-ITF Women’s Circuit Tennis Tournament here at the Yeshwant Club today.

Down 2-4 in the decider, after dropping serve in the third, Montika kept her cool and forced Shruti to commit errors. Shruti, carrying an ankle injury since the Sriram Open three weeks ago, seemed to have accepted defeat at this juncture. Even after leading in the set, she missed most of her first serves and didn’t even attempt returns. Montika broke in the eighth and 10th games to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

The Chandigarh-based DHAITA trainee played excellent tennis in the second set to win 6-3 but she had no answer to Montika’s crosscourt and down-the-line returns in the decider.

Semi-final line-up:

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Montika Anuchan vs Sai Jayalakshmy, Rushmi Chakravarthi vs Orawan Wongkamalsai.

Results (Quarterfinals): 1-SaiJayalakshmy (India) bt 7-Anna Nefedova (Russia) 6-4, 6-2; 3-Montika Anuchan (Thailand) bt 5-Shruti Dhawan (India) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; 2-Rushmi Chakravarthi (India) bt Pooja Deshmukh (India) 6-1, 6-1; 4-Orawan Wongkamalsai (Thailand) bt 6-Archana Venkatraman (India) 6-4, 6-3.