Sai struggles past Jyotsna

BANGALORE, SEPTEMBER 12: Twenty-one-year-old Jyotsna Vasisht fought every inch of the way before top seed Sai Jayalakshmi recovered from a...

BANGALORE, SEPTEMBER 12: Twenty-one-year-old Jyotsna Vasisht fought every inch of the way before top seed Sai Jayalakshmi recovered from a first set loss to oust her 3-6 6-2 7-5 in the first round of the 10,000 Khodays ITF Circuit women8217;s tennis tournament at the Bangalore City Institute courts on Tuesday.

Sai8217;s doubles partner Rushmi Chakravarthi had an easy day at the courts, breezing past Samrita Sekar 6-1, 6-3, but seventh seed Veronika Raimrova Cze was given a scare by Karishma Patel. She rallied brilliantly to prevail over the latter 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Fourth seed Sonal Phadke had to work hard for her points and she managed to scrape through 7-5, 7-5 in an error-filled match against Shalini Thakur.

Second seed I-Ting Wang Taipei got past Ana Sismundini Esp 6-0, 6-3. Initially, in the first two games, Sai and Jyotsna held their serves. Then followed a bout of service breaks before Jyotsna held serve in the eighth game and broke Sai in the ninth to walk away with the first set 6-3. Down one set, it was time to fight back and that Sai did as she broke Jyotsna in the first game of the second set. After trading breaks, Sai broke yet again in the fifth game to make it 3-2. She broke Jyotsna in the seventh also to push the match into the decider.

Jyotsna partially recovered from being 1-3 down in the decider before Sai went ahead to 5-2. Jyotsna fought hard to level at 5-5. But that was as far as she went as Sai took the set 7-5. Shruthi Dhawan and Radhika Tulpule caused a major upset as they defeated second seeded pair Arthi and Archana Venkataraman 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 in 155 minutes and move into the doubles semi-final. Third seeds Veronika Raimrova Cze and Sonal Phadke beat Jennifer Schimdt Aut and Liza Periera Ind 6-3, 6-3.

Results: Singles 1st round: Sai Jayalakshmi bt Jyotsna Vasisht 3-6 6-2 7-5; Rushmi Chakravarthi bt Samrita Sekar 6-1 6-3; Veronika Raimrova Cze bt Karshima Patel 4-6 6-4 6-3; I-Ting Wang Taipei bt bt Ana Sismundini Esp 6-0 6-3; Radhika Tulpule bt Priyanka Parekh 6-2 7-5; Sonal Phadke bt Shalini Thakur 7-5 7-5. Doubles QF: Sai Jayalakshmi/ Rushmi Chakravarthi bt Samrita Sekar/ Preethi Rao 6-1 6-0; Veronika Raimrova Cze/ Sonal Phadke bt Jennifer Schimdt Aut/ Liza Periera 6-3 6-3; Karishma Patel/ Jyotsna Vasisht bt Sheetal Goutham/ Shalini Thakur 4-6 6-4.