Kalaburagi, Mar 1
The Indian contingent witnessed a highly encouraging start at the ITF W35 Kalaburagi today, as Indian players delivered a wave of strong performances on the opening day of qualifying at the Chandrashekhar Patil Stadium in Kalaburagi.
With 12 Indians progressing to the second and final round, the depth and competitiveness of the domestic field were firmly on display in North Karnataka.
While a few seeds from overseas advanced smoothly, the spotlight remained firmly on the Indian hopefuls who rose to the occasion.
In one of the early results, 11th seed Vanshita Pathania got the better of Arunkumar Lakshmi Prabha 6-3, 6-1, even as top seed Maria Mikhailova ended Chandana Potugari's campaign 6-2, 6-1.
Second seed Eva Marie Desvignes of Singapore also moved through comfortably, defeating wildcard Omna Yadav Davunaboina 6-1, 6-3.
The momentum, however, steadily shifted towards the home players as the day progressed. Saumya Ronde produced a composed performance to upset 15th seed Disha Behera 7-5, 6-4, while Kashish Bhatia delivered one of the standout results of the day, dismantling fourth seed Pooja Ingale 6-4, 6-0 in a commanding display.
The all-Indian contests added further intrigue. Twelfth seed Aahan Aahan battled past Danica Fernando in a dramatic tie-breaker encounter, recovering from a set down to clinch a 5-7, 6-4, 11-9 win. Elsewhere, Aishwarya Jadhav was clinical in her 6-3, 6-1 victory over fifth seed Prathyusha Rachapudi, and 16th seed Sreemanya Reddy Anugonda showed resilience to overturn Sanjana Sirimalla 3-6, 6-4, 10-6. Meanwhile, 13th seed Mahika Khanna ensured there were no slip-ups, easing past wildcard Hridayeshi Pai 6-1, 6-3.
Wildcard Snigdha Kanta also impressed, knocking out sixth seed Elsa Wan of Malaysia 6-1, 5-7, 10-3 in a gritty performance that underlined the fighting spirit of the Indian contingent. Ninth seed Sandeepthi Singh Rao advanced with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Saily Prashant kumar Thakkar, while 10th seed Yashasvini Panwar secured a steady 6-4, 6-4 result against Aakruti Sonkusare Narayan Sonkusare. Eighth seed Bela Tamhankar and 14th seed Laxmisiri Dandu rounded off a productive day for the hosts with straight-set wins over Jigyasā Narsinghani and Jeetesh Kumari respectively.
With several Indians now just one win away from the main draw, the stage is set for an intense final round of qualifying as the ITF W35 Kalaburagi continues to gather momentum.
- IANS
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