Ashvarya, Rushmi exit

Indian challenge ends; Shkudun upsets Majeric

Suffering the after-effects of her gruelling three-and-a-half- hour marathon on Tuesday, Ashvarya showed glimpses of her talent before going down to seventh-seeded Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic 5-7, 2-6, while Rushmi was completely outplayed in a 1-6, 1-6 drubbing by Israel’s Junia Glushko in their respective pre-quarterfinal clashes at the KSLTA stadium.

The Indians may have reached a dead end, but two young stars from Ukraine played some wonderful tennis to steal the spotlight as the sun finally made its presence felt.

Anna Shkudun, possessing a good game for a 15-year-old, shrugged off a momentary lapse in concentration to outwit an equally tempestuous Tadeja Majeric of Slovenia 6-4, 6-4 while last week’s Mandya Open champion Anastasiya Vasylyeva continued her impressive show to outlast Thailand’s second seed Noppawan Lertcheewakarn  6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-3.

Barring her continuous rants at herself on losing points, world number 876 and qualifier Shkudun showed a wonderful brain and great skills against a player ranked 586 places above her. Quick to spot Majeric’s weakness at net, Shkudun kept asking some uncomfortable questions of the 20-year-old Slovenian, who eventually found them too hot to handle.

For the all solid hitting Majeric possesses, she was awful at the net, missing some simple overheads as well as regulation volleys. To make things worse, her serve too was disappointing, 11 double-faults not helping her cause.

However, it was Majeric who grabbed the first slice of the pie when she broke Shkudun for a 3-2 lead after the opening four games went with serve.

Shkudun broke back in the next game when Majeric hit a forehand long but lost her serve again, an unforced error giving the Slovenian a 4-3 advantage.

That’s when Majeric, from almost nowehere, suffered an alarming loss in form as the Ukrainian reeled off winner after winner, winning the opening set during a nine-game streak that put her 5-0 ahead in the second.

Just when the match seemed headed for a quick finish, Majeric staged a brilliant comeback, clawing back matchpoint down to make it 4-5. The fightback threw Shkudun completely out off gear, but after venting out her frustration, she regained her composure in time to clinch the tie on her third match point.

In the quarterfinals on the morrow, Shkudun will take on Kumiko Iijima while Vasylyeva will lock horns against Peanghthan Pliphuech.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Singles, pre-quarterfinals: Anna Shkudun (Ukr) bt 5-Tadeja Majeric (Slo) 6-4, 6-4; Dalila Jakupovic (Slo) bt Elodie Rogge-Dietrich (Fra) 6-3, 6-4; Peangthan Pliphuech (Tha) bt Aloyna Sotnikova (Ukr) 7-5, 7-6 (7-4); 3-Kumiko Iijima (Jpn) Anna Rapoport (Rus) 6-3, 6-3; Anastasiya Vasylyeva (Ukr) bt 2-Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (Tha) 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-3; Nicha Lertpitaksinchai (Tha) bt Varatchaya Wongteanchai (Tha) 6-3, 6-1; 4-Julia Glushko (Isr) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi (Ind) 6-1, 6-1; 7-Kristina Mladenovic (Fra) bt Ashvarya Shrivastava (Ind) 7-5, 6-2.
Doubles, quarterfinals: Dalila Jakupovic/Tadeja Majeric (Slo) bt Dariya Berezhnaya (Kaz)/Volha Kalodzitsa (Blr) 6-2, 7-5; 1-Yi Chen (Tpe)/Kumiko Iijima (Jpn) bt Tamaryn Hendler (Bel)/Anastasiya Vasylyeva (Ukr) 7-5, 6-1; Trang Huynh Phuong Dai (Vie)/Peangthan Pliphuech (Tha) bt Sheethal Goutham/Kyra Shroff (Ind) 3-6, 6-2, 10-6; Luksika Kumkhum/Nungnadda Wannasuk (Tha) bt Anna Rapoport (Rus)/Alyona Sotnikova (Ukr) 6-1, 5-7, 10-8.