Sonal, Megha advance to quarters

MAY 29: Top seed Sonal Phadke and in-form Megha Vakharia cruised into the quarter-finals as fourth-seeded Shalini Thakur crashed on the op...

MAY 29: Top seed Sonal Phadke and in-form Megha Vakharia cruised into the quarter-finals as fourth-seeded Shalini Thakur crashed on the opening day of the ITF Womens’ Masters tennis tournament on Monday.

Sonal, who won the first leg at Indore, needed 55 minutes to demolish Liza Pereira 6-3 6-0 to set up a quarter-final clash against Sricharanya Thyagarajan. Sricharanya beat Marutha Devi in the draw of 16 6-2 6-3 in 59 minutes to book her place in the last eight.

Megha got rid of Arti Venkataraman 6-2 6-4 in an hour and four minutes at the DLTA deco courts.

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The second-seeded Mumbai girl will meet T Yamini, a 6-4 7-5 victor against Nona Wagh in one hour, 45 minutes.

Isha Lakhani beat Shalini Thakurin 6-3 2-6 7-6 (7-5) to book a quarter-final berth against Karishma Patel. Karishma also struggled early on before scoring 6-7 (2-7) 6-2 6-2 victory over unheralded Deepa Chakrabarty in an hour and a half. Geeta Manohar and Third seed Archana Venkataraman were also through to the next round.

Results (prefix denotes seeding)

1-Sonal Phadke bt Liza Pereira 6-3 6-0, T Sricharanya bt Marutha Devi 6-2 6-3, Isha Lakhani bt 4-Shalini Thakur 6-3 2-6 7-6 (7-5), Karishma Patel bt Deepa Chakrabarty 6-7 (2-7) 6-2 6-2, Geeta Manohar bt Radhika Mandke 6-2 7-5, 3-Archana Venkataraman bt Sheetal Goutham 6-2 6-2, T Yamini bt Nona Wagh 6-4 7-5, 2-Megha Vakharia bt Arthi Venkataraman 6-2 6-4.

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