JOIN USSeventh seed Nidhi Chilumula bowed out in the first round while fifth seed Prarthana Thombare was stretched by Shweta Rana before surging ahead in the KUDU Kalaburagi ITF $10,000 Women’s Tennis Tournament here on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old Nidhi went down 6-2, 6-7 (2), 5-7 to Tamachan Momkoonthod from Thailand while Prarthana prevailed over Shweta 7-5, 7-6 (6) to advance into the pre-quarterfinals.
Top seed Prerna Bhambri cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Sneha Padamata while the promising Karman Kaur Thandi defeated Xi-Yao Wang of China 6-1, 6-3.
Nidhi was in her elements in the first set, claiming it 6-2. But Tamachan raised her game to enforce the tie-breaker and clinched second set 7-6.
In the decider, Tamachan prevailed 7-5 to win the match.
Bidar ITF shifted
The Bidar $10,000 ITF women’s event, which was scheduled from November 23 at Bidar has been shifted to Kalaburagi due to unavoidable circumstances.
The qualifiers for the tournament will be held on Saturday and Sunday.
The qualifying signing in will be at the Chandrasekhar Patel Stadium on Friday from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm.
Results: (Prefix denotes seedlings, Indians unless mentioned): Singles: Round of 32: Karman Kaur Thandi bt Xi-Yao Wang (Chn) 6-1, 6-3; (1) Prerna Bhambri bt Sneha Padamata 6-1, 6-0; (6) Sharmadaa Baluu bt Astha Darugude 6-3, 6-1; Sai Samhitha Chamrathi bt Amrita Mukherjee 0-6, 6-4, 6-3; Kanika Vaidya bt Aarthi Munian 6-2, 6-1, (5) Prarthana Thombare bt Shweta Rana 7-5, 7-6 (6); Ghun-Yan He (Chn) bt Vasavi Ganesan 6-1, 6-2; Tamachan Momkoonthod (Tha) bt (7) Nidhi Chilumula 2-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5; (2) Natasha Palha bt Simran Kejriwal 6-1, 6-3; Plorung Plipuech (Tha) bt Prakriti Bhavani 6-2, 6-0.
Doubles: Round of 16: Riya Bhatia/Sai Samhitha Chamarthi bt Eetee Maheta (Ind)/Xi-Yao Wang (Chn) 6-4, 7-6 (6).