She followed that with another error, a forehand this time, to crash out of the $600,000 Bangalore Open at the KSLTA courts on Wednesday evening. The 6-2, 6-2 pasting at the hands of Szatmari meant the Indian challenge came to an abrupt end in the Tier II WTA Tour event.

After having caught the eye with a doughty performance at the very same courts two years ago, much was expected of the wild-carder. But she chose to embrace defeat and follow fellow Indian Shikha Uberoi out of the tournament.

A little later, Vera Zvonareva, the world No 21 and the seventh seed here, was on brink of elimination, but dug deep into her reserves to post a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory over qualifier Monica Niculescu.

"It was my first match at this altitude, my shots did not work today," the Russian ace said. That probably was the reason for the slew of errors. "I have to slow down to play consistently." She did so after being a break down in the second set.

Isha too must have been looking for a turnaround after getting off to a pathetic start. Sadly, she didn't have the game to test the Romanian who relied more on percentages than any brilliance.

Szatmari didn't have to come up with any as Isha gifted her points left, right and centre. After a long opening game which went to three deuces, the Indian, ranked 357 in the world, hit a forehand into the net to go down a break straightaway.

It was a downhill ride thereafter. She tried to mix it up by coming to net, but her volleying was pathetic. She either put it into the net or was passed by Szatmari. To make matters worse, her shot selection, especially in the opening set, left a lot to be desired.

She dropped serve in the third game as well. "Oh god," she muttered after going 0-4 down. Not one to go down without a fight, Isha just hung in there, cut down the errors and kept the ball in play. She held serve in the fifth and seventh games, but couldn't stop the qualifier from taking the set.

The script went on similar lines in the second set too. Szatmari jumped to a quick 3-0 lead with breaks in the first and third games. Isha then called a trainer on court to attend to her hurting arm. With her arm taped, she made a last-ditch effort to stay in the match.

Isha broke Szatmari for the first time in the match in the fourth game, but it was more due to the Romanian's largesse than any brilliance on the former’s part. She held serve in the fifth but an error-strewn seventh saw the Indian drop serve. Szatmari then served out the set and match in the next game.

Results (I round):

Singles: Olga Savchuk (Ukr) bt Katie O'Brien (GBR) 6-4, 2-6, 7-5; Tzipora Obziler (Isr) bt Angelika Bachmann (Ger) 6-2, 6-3; Sanda Mamic (Cro) bt Yung-Jan Chan (Tpe) 6-2, 6-2; Agnes Szatmari (Rom) bt Isha Lakhani (Ind) 6-2, 6-2; Vera Zvonareva (Rus) bt Monica Niculescu (Rom) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Doubles: Serena Williams/ Venus Williams (US) bt Andreea Ehritt-Vanc (Rom)/ Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thai) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4; Anastasia Rodionova/ Yaroslava Shvedova (Rus) bt Monique Adamczak (Aus)/ Sunitha Rao (Ind) 6-0, 6-1; Chunmei Ji/ Shengnan Sun (Chn) bt Angelika Bachmann (Ger)/ Debbrich Feys (Bel) 2-6, 7-5, 10-7.

ACTION TODAY

Centre Court: 11.00 am: Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) vs Agnes Szavay (Hun); Yung-Jan Chan/ Chia-Jung Chuang (Tpe) vs Ayumi Morita/ Junri Namigata (Jpn); Not before 2.00 pm: Sybille Bammer (Aut) vs Anastasia Rodionova (Rus); Not before 5.00 pm: Tzipora Obziler (Isr) vs Serena Williams (US); Patty Schnyder (Sui) vs Aiko Nakamura (Jpn); Serena Williams/ Venus Williams (US) vs Shuai Peng/ Tiantian Sun (Chn).
Court 1: 3.00 pm: Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb)/ Olga Savchuk (Ukr) vs Zi Yan/ Jie Zheng (Chn).
Court 3: 3.00 pm: Agnes Szatmari (Rom)/ Aurelie Vedy (Fra) vs Ekaterina Dzehalevich (Blr)/ Monica Niculescu (Rom).