Shruti, Arati fall

The talented Shruti Dhawan, who had beaten Wongkamalasai in three sets in the final round of the qualifiers had the best first round draw among the Indian players and was expected to pull it off. But the Thai woman, ranked 868 in the WTA computer, proved a different proposition by controlling the match well to win 6-3, 6-4.

Arati Venkatraman could do little against her Chinese rival going down 0-6, 0-6 in aone-sided affair. In the other first round match, Li Ting China fought hard to quell the challenge of Uchida Motoe Japan 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

The other Indian women pairs to lose in the first round were Reetu Sethi-Joy Rodrigues, Sai Jayalakshmi-Uzma Khan, Trishna Williams-Shalini Thakur and sisters Archana and Arati Venkataraman.

Results

Singles first round: Benjamas Sangaram Thai bt Liu zhi Rong Chn 6-2, 6-2; Li Ting Chn bt Uchida Motoe Jpn 6-3, 5-7, 6-4; Ding Ding Chn bt Arati Venkatraman Ind 6-0, 6-0; Orawan Wongkamalasai Thai bt Shruti Dhawan Ind 6-3, 6-4.

Doubles first round: Nami Urabe-Yoriko Yamagishi 1-Jap bt Irina Nossenko Ukr-Julia Kryoukova Rus 6-1, 6-2; Arti Ponnappa-Rushmi Chakravarthy Ind bt Sheetal Gautam-Shruti Dhawan Ind 6-2, 6-4; Li Ting-Ding Ding 4-Chn bt Nicole Remis-Nicole Melch Aut 6-4, 6-1; Julia Adlbrecht-Sandra Mantler Aut bt Reetu Sethi-Joy Rodrigues Ind 6-3, 6-3; Qui Yang Chn-Motoe Uchida Jpn bt SaiJayalakshmi-Uzma Khan Ind 6-2, 6-4; Riei Otakeyama-Shiha Hisamasu 3-Jpn bt Trishna Williams-Shalini Thakur Ind 6-2, 6-0; Ayami Takase Jpn-Orawan Wongkamalasai Thai bt Arti-Archana Venkatraman Ind 6-3, 6-1; Benjamas Sangaram Tha-Abigail Tordoff 2-GB bt Kelly Liggan Ire-Liu Zhi Rong Chn 7-5, 6-0.