Sonal books second-round berth

New Delhi, October 23: Sonal Phadke rallied from behind to beat compatriot Manohar in a classic match while the Vesenjsak sisters, Urska and Masa, of Slovakia got past their Indian opponents in straight sets in the first round of the $ 10,000 ITF Women’s singles tournament here on Monday.

Fourth-seeded Urska crushed the late resistance by India’s Harsimran Bedi in the last set of the match to win 4-0, 4-0, 5-3. Urska’s sixth-seed sister coasted to an easy 4-0, 4-0, 4-2 victory over Sheetal Goutam.

Indian qualifiers Samrita Sekhar and Preeti Rao lost to their superior ranked opponents in straight sets .Even though Sekhar put up a good fight in the last two sets against the 505 ranked Dominika Luzarova of Czechoslovakia, she eventually lost 1-4, 4-5 (3), 3-5.

Preeti Rao did not have many answers to Anna Eugenia Nefedova of Russia and bowed out 1-4, 1-4, 1-4.