JOIN USPoojashree crashes out
At the PET Tennis stadium, there was double disappointment in store for Poojashree Venkatesha. Seeded seventh in the singles draw, the Karnataka girl went down in straight sets to Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum in the semifinals in the morning.
Later in the evening, Poojashree and Rushmi Chakravarthi, the fourth seeds in the doubles competition, were at the receiving end of a terrible drubbing from the Thailand pair of Peangthan Pliphuech and Nungnadda Wannasuk in the title clash.
Having swatted aside three compatriots in her first three encounters, Poojashree ran into a tartar in the eighth-seeded Kumkhum in the semis. The Thai dictated terms from the start of the match and quickly raced through the first set 6-1.
Poojashree did give a better account of herself in the second set, but Kumkhum kept her nerve and played the bigger points better to carve out a 6-1, 7-5 victory. In Saturday’s title round, the Thai now runs into top seed Anastasiya Vasylyeva, who was taken the distance by British third seed Emily Webley-Smith.
In a contest that could have gone either way, Vasylyeva eventually came through 7-5, 2-6, 7-5. The women’s doubles match in the evening was a completely one-sided affair, the unseeded Thai duo crushing the Indians 6-1, 6-1.
For their efforts, Pliphuech and Wannasuk will take home Rs 14,695 each, while the two Indians picked up Rs 7,913 apiece.
Results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Singles, semifinals: 1-Anastasiya Vasylyeva (Ukr) bt 3-Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) 7-5, 2-6, 7-5; 8-Luksika Kumkhum (Tha) bt 7-Poojashree Venkatesha (IND) 6-1, 7-5.
Doubles, final: Peangthan Pliphuech/Nungnadda Wannasuk (Tha) bt 4-Rushmi Chakravarthi/4-Poojashree Venkatesha (Ind) 6-1, 6-1.