Uberoi sisters set own milestone

Victory in the qualifiers for all three Indians 8212; barring Neha who8217;s US status still awaits clearance to represent India 8212; was huge, considering that each one of them defeated higher-ranked players en route the main draw. While 22-year-old Shikha and Prakash staged comeback wins over Kateryna Bondarenko and Brian Vahaly, respectively, it was Neha who stood out most.

The gritty Neha weathered a fightback from the British No. 1 Elena Baltacha in the second set before completing a three-set win which finally seemed the order of day of all Indians. Shikha walked clean after an hour and 52 minutes in a match that was so close that Shikha only won two more points than her higher-ranked opponent.

Prakash won over the former top-75 player in Vahalay assumed importance as it was the second seed in the draw that he scalped in as many days. Prakash will now face American wildcard Mardy Fish, on the comeback trail from his injury problems of 2005.