Shruti upsets De Beer, Sonal advances

NEW dELHI, OCTOBER 31: Shruti Dhawan of India scored the lone upset victory on the second day of the $ 25,000 ITF women's tennis champions...

NEW dELHI, OCTOBER 31: Shruti Dhawan of India scored the lone upset victory on the second day of the $ 25,000 ITF women’s tennis championship when she knocked-out fifth-seeded Surina de Beer in straight sets to storm into the second round.

Shruti, who entered the main draw on a wildcard, played solid tennis as she beat the South African de Beer 4-0, 4-1, 4-2, retaining her serve throughout.

With this victory, the fastest of the day which lasted just 46 minutes, she books a second round clash with Slovakia’s Eva Fislova, who at 355 is 404 places superior to the Indian on the WTA rankings.

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Also moving to round two were third-seeded Katarina Daskovic of Yugoslavia and seventh-seeded Ekaterina Kozhokina of Russia. Daskovic, ranked 242, moved past India’s Sheethal Goutham who entered through the qualifiers.

Sheethal’s run came to an end with a 3-5, 0-4, 1-4 loss in around an hour.National hardcourt champion Rushmi Chakravarthi could not win her opening encounter, going down to qualifier and compatriot Sonal Phadke. Rushmi, who reached the semi-finals of the $ 10,000 event here last week, could not match Sonal, going down 2-4, 1-4, 0-4, in 63 minutes.

Results (Round II): Shruti Dhawan (Ind) bt 5- Surina de Beer (Rsa) 4-0, 4-1, 4-2; 3- Katarina Daskovic (Yug) bt Sheethal Goutham (Ind) 5-3, 4-0, 4-1; Sai Jayalakshmi (Ind) bt Maja Mlakar (Slo) 4-2, 4-1, 4-1; Andrea Van den Hurk (Ned) bt Dominika Luzarova (Cze) 2-4, 1-4, 4-2, 4-1, 4-1; 7- Ekaterina Kozhokina (Rus) bt Masa Vesenjak (Slo) 4-2, 5-3, 4-1; Urska Vesenjak (Slo) bt Caroline Raba (Ger) 4-0, 5-4 (7), 4-2; Sonal Phadke (Ind) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi (Ind) 4-2, 4-1, 4-0; 1- Eva Krejcova (Cze) bt Anna Eugenia Nefedova (Rus) 2-4, 4-2, 4-1, 4-1; Lenka Dlhopolcova (Svk) bt Arthi Venkatraman (Ind) 4-2, 4-1, 4-2; Eva Fislova (Svk) bt Susanna Filipp (AUT) 4-1, 4-2, 4-1; 6- Lubomira Kurhajcova (Svk) bt Samrita Sekar (Ind) 4-1, 2-4, 4-1, 4-2; Olga Kalijnaia (Rus) bt Radhila Tulpule (Ind) 4-0, 4-1, 4-2; Jyotsna Vasisht (Ind) bt Archana Venkatraman (Ind) 2-4, 4-1, 4-5 (5), 5-3, 4-0; 4- Alicia Ortuno (Esp) bt Helga Vieira (Por) 4-2, 4-1, 4-0; Angela Cardoso (Por) bt 8- Manisha Malhotra (Ind) 1-4, 1-4, 5-4 (4), 0-1retd.; Harsimran Bedi (Ind) bt Ankita Bhambri (Ind) 2-4, 4-0, 4-1, 4-2.

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