Pune: Fourth seeded Karman Kaur Thandi survived a scare as she rallied from a set down to overpower Aleksandrina Naydenova of Bulgaria and moved into the second round of women’s singles in the $25000 BVG Pune Open ITF tennis championships organised by NS Sports Academy at the MSLTA School of Tennis Complex Mhalunge Balewadi here on Monday.
In a match that lasted over three hours, Karman had to dig hard to stop a fighting qualifier Aleksandrina Naydenova of Bulgaria 4-6, 7-5,7-5.
Karman later returned to the court with her partner Ankita Raina to dispose off Kaylah McPhee of Australia and Pei-Chi Lee of Chinese Taipei 6-2, 6-4 and make the quarterfinals in the doubles.
In other matches German Qualifier Katharina Gerlach outplayed wildcard and former Indian National champion Riya Bhatia 6-0, 6-3 in another close encounter lasting around three hours.
Results:
First Round: Mariam Bolkvadze (Geo) bt Maria Marfutina (Rus) 6-2, 6-2; E Guerrero Alvarez (Esp) bt Junri Namigata (Jpn) 7-6 (7-2), 6-7 (6-8), 6-4; Q Katharina Gerlach (Ger) bt Riya Bhatia (Ind) 6-0, 6-3; 4-Karman Kaur Thandi bt Q-Aleksandrina Nadenova (Bul) 4-6, 7-5, 7-5; Q-Ekaterina Yashina (Rus) bt Risa Ozaki (Jpn) 6-4, 6-2.
Doubles:
First Round: Ankita Raina and Karman Kaur Thandi bt Kaylah McPhee (Aus) and Pei-Chi Lee (Tpe) 6 -2, 6-4; Chieh-Yu Hsu (Tpe) and Jia-Jing Lu (Chn) bt wc-Snehal Mane (Ind) and Ching Ho Wu (Hkg) 6-2, 6-4; Jaqueline Adina Rou Cristian (Rou) and Quirine Lemoine (Ned) bt 4-Reka-Luca Jani (Hun) and Valeriya Strakhova (Ukr) 6-4, 3-6 (10-3); Amina Anshba (Rus) and Paula Kania (Pol) bt wc-Natasha Palhaa and Rishika Sunkara (Ind) 6-0, 6-2; Sharon Fichman (Can) and Katarzyna (Pol) bt Diana Marcinkevica (Lat) and Eden Silva (Gbr) 6-3, 6-1; 2-Katy Dunne and Sarah Beth Grey (Gbr) bt Katharina Gerlach (Ger) and Erika Vogelsang (Ned) 6-4, 5-7, 10-3.