Rediff India Abroad
 Rediff India Abroad Home  |  All the sections

Search:



The Web

India Abroad




Newsletters
Sign up today!

Article Tools
Email this article
Top emailed links
Print this article
Contact the editors
Discuss this article
Home > Sports > Tennis > PTI > Report


Lakhani lone Indian left in the fray

January 22, 2004 21:41 IST

Top seed Isha Lakhani overcame a cramped schedule to power her way into the semi-finals of the $10,000 ITF women's tennis event at the DLTA Courts in Delhi on Thursday.

Forced to play two matches in a day after rains affected yesterday's programme, Isha won her second round and quarter-final matches without losing a set.

Isha, the highest ranked Indian on the WTA at 379, first defeated compatriot Sheethal Goutham 7-5, 6-0 before waltzing past last week's winner at Hyderabad, Sandy Gumulya of Indonesia, 6-0, 6-2 to enter the last-four stage.

But Indian hopes suffered a double blow when Thailand's Thassha Vityaviroj ousted third seed Megha Vakharia and Iciri Rai.

Thassha did well to end on the right side of a close scoreline in both the matches.

The Thai girl overcame Vakharia 6-4, 6-4 before halting qualifier Iciri's winning run with an identical scoreline in the quarter-final.

Second seed Rushmi Chakravarthy's 4-6, 5-7 loss to Giorgia Mortello in the quarters meant the field is now left with only one Indian.

Rushmi was perhaps feeling the strain of the tight schedule after winning 6-3, 6-4 against Taipei's I-Hsuan Hwang in the morning whereas the Italian seventh seed had played her second round tie yesterday.

Shruti Dhawan was another victim of the rescheduled order of play. She won 6-2, 6-3 against Sandhya Nagraj, but felt the strain when it mattered, going down to fourth seed Montinee Tangphong of Thailand 2-6, 6-7 (1/7).

© Copyright 2005 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.

Share your comments


Advertisement






Copyright © 2006 Rediff.com India Limited. All Rights Reserved.