Archana upstaged

PUNE, OCT 22: The same fate that had stopped Archana Venkatraman in the Ahmedabad leg awaited the top seed and WTA 660th ranked girl here...

PUNE, OCT 22: The same fate that had stopped Archana Venkatraman in the Ahmedabad leg awaited the top seed and WTA 660th ranked girl here. If it was Shruti Dhawan who had put the brakes on her in the quarters there, it was fifth-seeded Rushmi Chakravarthi who plotted Archana8217;s ouster in the BPL Mobile-second-leg ITF women8217;s tennis tournament at the Deccan Gymkhana courts here today.

Rushmi, ranked 901 in the WTA list, will take on the third seed Sai Jayalakhshmy 735 tomorrow, whom she had defeated last week in the Ahmedabad finals after some hiccups. Sai, today, put paid to the aspirations of eighth seed Shruti Dhawan of DHAITA 6-3, 6-1.

Except for a little resistance from Archana in the fourth game, Rushmi had no problem winning the first set 6-0. Leading 3-0 with a break in the second, and 0-30 in the fourth, Rushmi found it difficult to handle Archana8217;s forehand cross-court returns. She lost three points there.

However, in the deuce, luck was with Rushmi, as Archana went erratic, twice servingfault serves, thus losing the point and the game.

In the second set, at 4-3 with serve in Rushmi8217;s favour, the top seed totally lost her line of play. The game eighth saw Archana start her serve with a double fault and then a series of mistakes. Gaining this decisive break, Rushmi merely had to complete a job already well done. She wrapped up the match without dropping a point in the next two games to win 6-3.

JANAKI SURVIVES: Unseeded Janaki Krishnamoorthy survived a close call from her unseeded Bangalore opponent 8212; Sheetal Gautam 8212; to win 6-2, 7-6 8-6. The 17-year-old, high on morale after her career-best win against the second seed Russian Anna Nefedova yesterday, though she had lost the first set meagerly, played to perfection in the second set.

Janaki was up 3-2 in the tie-breaker, but Sheetal made up the deficit and was soon up 5-4. Janaki, unmoved by Sheetal8217;s comeback, stuck to her original game. Thus saving two match points in the tie-breaker to finally book her berth in thesemis.

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SEMI-FINAL LINE UP: SINGLES: Rushmi Chakravarthy Ind vs Sai Jayalakshmi Ind. Montika Anuchan Thai vs Janaki Krishnamoorthy Ind.

RESULTS Prefix denotes seedings

SINGLE Q/F: 5. Rushmi Chakravarthy Ind bt 1. Archana Venkatraman Ind 6-0, 6-3; Janaki Krishnamoorthy Ind bt Sheetal Gautam Ind 6-2, 7-6 8-6; 3. Sai Jayalakshmi Ind bt 8. Shruti Dhawan Ind 6-3, 6-1; 7. Montika Anuchan Thai bt 4. Orawan Wangkamalsai Thai 5-2 conceded.

Pre-Q/F: Janaki Krishnamoorthi Ind bt 5. Aarti Venkatraman Ind 4-6, 6-4, 6-0; 3. Sai Jayalakshmi Ind bt Deepa Engade Ind 6-0, 6-1; 1. Archana Venkatraman Ind bt Shalini Thakur Ind 6-0, 6-1, 6. Rushmi Chakravarthi Ind bt Nikita Bhardwaj Ind 6-4, 6-0; G Sheetal Ind bt 2. Anna Nefedova Russia 6-2, 7-5; 8. Shruti Dhawan Ind bt Poja Deshmukh Ind 6-4, 6-0; 4-Orawan Wongkamalsai Thai bt Nandini Parumal Ind 6-0, 6-1; 7-Monika Anuchan Thai bt Kameshwari Vadali Ind 6-1, 6-2