Snehadevi has it tough in opener

Third seed Snehadevi Reddy of India battled past qualifier Preethi Ujjini 7-5, 6-1 to move into the second round of the KUDA Gulbarga ITF $10,000 women’s tennis tournament here on Monday.

The match lasted an hour and 54 minutes with Ujjini testing the third seed in the first set. Snehadevi was also guilty of serving too many double faults, once even serving four in a row to hand a game to her opponent.

However, once Snehadevi came into her own, Preethi, who was aggressive all through, seemed to be losing her focus and the third seed wrapped up the second set quickly.
In an upset, qualifier Soha Sadiq rallied from a set down to account for Akshara Iska 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3. 

In doubles, the fourth seeded Indian pair of Druthi Venugopal and Karman Kaur Thandi made short work of the Indo-Chinese pair of Varunya Chandrashekar and Chun-Yan He, winning 6-0, 6-3.

Results: (Prefix denotes seeding, Indians unless mentioned):

Singles (1st round): Druthi Venugopal bt Deekash Manju Prasad 6-3, 6-0; Dakshata Girishkumar Prasad bt Teertha Iska 6-4, 6-1; 8-Eetee Maheta bt Shivani Manjanna 6-1, 6-1; 3-Snehadevi Reddy bt Preethi Ujjini 7-5, 6-1; Riya Bhatia bt Moulika Ram 6-4, 6-2; Soha Sadiq bt Akshara Iska 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3.

Doubles: (Round of 16): 4-Druthi Venugopal/ Karman Kaur Thandi bt Varunya Chandrashekar (Ind) Chun-Yan He (Chn) 6-0, 6-3;  Tamachan Momkoonthod / Plobrung Plippipuech (Tha) bt Teertha Iska / Amrita Mukhereee 6-2, 6-1; Aastha Darugude/ Vasavi Ganesan bt Sneha Padamata/ Moulika Ram 6-3, 2-6, 10-8; Soha Sadiq/ Sahan Shetty bt Dakashata Girishkumar Patel / Niditra Rajmohan 3-6, 7-5, 10-8.