Sonal-Sai in quarters clash

New Delhi, April 19: In what has been the fastest match of this $ 10,000 ITF Women's Circuit tennis event, Slovenian teenager Urska -- one...

New Delhi, April 19: In what has been the fastest match of this $ 10,000 ITF Women’s Circuit tennis event, Slovenian teenager Urska — one half of the Vesenjak twins — demolished Nandini Perumal 6-0 6-0 in a little over half an hour at the DTA complex here.

In a third Slovenian victory over an Indian on Wednesday, Maja Mlakar routed the latest Indian Fed Cup member Radhika Tulpule 6-1 6-1 in exactly an hour. In the best news of the day — along with the expected victories of Nirupama Vaidyanathan, Manisha Malhotra and Sai Jayalakshmy — Mumbai lass Sonal Phadke destroyed fifth seed Satomi Kinjo of Japan 6-1 6-1 in under 50 minutes.

Her second place at Mumbai last week has obviously done wonders for her confidence and today, she played almost flawless tennis, making few errors. “I was confident against her (Kinjo) as I had already beaten her in Mumbai last week. Today, I played agressively and the fast courts suited me,” said Sonal.

“I will stay back against Sai and play to my own strengths,” she said of her game plan for Thursday.

Jennifer Schmidt will be the only non-Indian or non-Slovenian in the last eight. The Austrian qualifier took out the Indian seventh seed 6-2 7-5 to wrap up the quarter-final line-up.

Results

Singles (pre-quaters): Nirupama Vaidyanathan (IND) bt Svetla Bozicnik (SLO) 7-5 6-1, Manisha Malhotra (IND) bt Ana Sismondini (ESP) 6-2 6-0, Sai Jayalakshmy (IND) bt Tara Kanbargimath (IND) 7-5 6-0, Sonal Phadke (IND) bt Satomi Kinjo (JPN) 6-0 6-1, Urska Vesenjak (SLO) bt Nandini Perumal (IND) 6-0 6-0, Masa Vesenjak (SLO) bt Shalini Thakur (IND) 7-5 6-3, Jennifer Schmidt (AUT) bt Archana Venkataraman (IND) 6-2 7-5, Maja Mlakar (SLO) bt Radhika Tulpule (IND) 6-1 6-1.

Doubles (quarters): Sai Jayalakshmy/Nirupama Vaidyanathan (IND) bt Miyako Ataka/Geeta Manohar (JPN/IND) 6-2 6-4, Rushmi Chakravarthi/Radhika Tulpule (IND) bt Archana/Arthi Venkataraman (IND) 6-2 6-2, Urska/Masa Vesenjak (SLO) bt Nina Egger/Marion Walter (AUT) 6-2 6-2, Karolina Sadaj/Lucia Tallo (POL/SUI) bt Shalini Thakur/Harsimran Kaur (IND) 7-6 (2) 5-7 6-1.